Senior Services Advocate Brings Expertise To WestConn

DANBURY — Former executive director for the Department of Elderly Services/Danbury Commission on Aging, the Rev Leo McIlrath, recently completed instructing a fall 2003 graduate-level gerontology course at Western Connecticut State University.

“Leo was a wonderful instructor for the introductory course offering in the gerontology program,” said Dr Lynne Clark, dean of the School of Professional Studies. “He’s done a lot of tremendous work for the community and his life serves as an exemplary model to future health and human services professionals who will work in the gerontology field after completing this program.”

Rev McIlrath, who holds master’s degrees in counseling and divinity, is also the former president of the Connecticut Association of Senior Center Personnel.

He taught ten students from a variety of vocational backgrounds, including nurses, Department of Labor employees, and a municipal benefits administrator. He invited numerous guest speakers to address the class, including service providers in areas including elder law, housing, and medicine. Other speakers included professionals from hospitals and clinics treating geriatric dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, as well as experts on senior adult alcohol and gambling addictions.

“I had a wonderful group of people as students,” Rev McIlrath said. “They brought information from their own experiences to the class and came away with knowledge from each other and from the guest speakers.”

Rev McIlrath is also involved with the Coalition of Agencies Relation to Elderly Services (CARES), an agency through which he says he is been able “to bring a lot of people together to tackle elder issues from different perspectives.”

He lives in Sandy Hook with his wife Diane.

For more information on WestConn programs, call 837-8486.