By Nate Jones
Staff Writer
After spending 18 years supporting residents of the Maine Veterans Home, her family and her neighbors in Scarborough, Bernadette Meserve, at age 79, has been voted the Leader’s 2007 Great Person. Dorothy Carter, who met Meserve through their mutual time at the Scarborough Veterans’ home, nominated Meserve for the award.
Meserve was raised in Portland, where she met her husband, George Meserve. They both moved to Scarborough in 1954, where she still lives, and she said  she “can still feel him” taking care of her there.
Meserve’s husband began his career as a messenger for the Maine Central Railroad in Portland and eventually became a locomotive engineer.
“He did everything there,” Meserve said.
Meserve began taking care of people long before her volunteering days, right after her husband suffered a stroke in 1985. Meserve, having no nursing or medical experience, stayed home with her husband until 1988, until he was finally brought to Maine Medical Center, where Meserve said she would “hang around” her husband and the other patients.
It wasn’t until 1990 that Meserve and her husband came to the veterans home in Scarborough. It was here that Meserve met Carter, another veteran wife and nurse, and many other women.
“I remember it seemed like there were a lot of railroad people,” Meserve said, and began listing the names of those her husband had worked on the railroad with – some of who still reside at the home.
“I was here pretty much seven days a week,” Meserve said.
During her time at the home Meserve’s activities included much more than taking care of her husband. Meserve remembers passing out trays of food and enjoying helping the nurses at the center set up meals for the residents there.
“I just did it all,” Meserve said. “To help the people.”
Meserve and other wives of veterans at the home formed a support group, that for the past 15 years “has really held a lot of people together around here,” said Jane Brennick, Activities Coordinator at the home.
Meserve has continued to volunteer at the center and participate in the support group since her husband’s death in 2000.
“They couldn’t get rid of me,” Meserve said.
While Meserve spent less time at the home after her husband’s death, she continues to improve the quality of life of the residents there by offering a kind ear and friendly voice, Brennick said. Meserve can be found there every Sunday and Wednesday, and enjoys the meals at the center and going out to lunch, Meserve said. Meserve also performs internal surveys for the veterans home, a big part of keeping residents happy, Brennick said.
“I’m just nosey I guess,” Meserve said, who spends most of her time getting to know the residents and coordinating various events. Meserve said one of her current projects is to have a “garden of remembrance” at the home. She also commended the staff and volunteers at the home.
“Every one of them deserves an award,” she said. “I could write about anyone here.”
It was on Christmas night 2006 that Meserve ended up as a resident herself at Maine Medical in Portland, suffering from “a stomach disease.”
“We were very scared,” Brennick said. Meserve said she was well taken care of at the home, with her own private room and friends to take care of her. She modestly accepted lots of cards and gifts from those at the home and other Scarborough residents, Brennick said.
“Everybody here was so good to me anyhow,” Meserve said.
During her two months at Maine Medical, Meserve was admitted to intensive care, and at several points doctors contemplated turning off life support. Brennick said the sickness would have surely claimed the life of a less active woman of Meserve’s age.
It wasn’t until the end of February that Meserve was moved from Maine Medical to the  “more familiar” veterans home in Scarborough, where she spent the next 16 months in recovery.
Meserve said her time as a resident helped her to better understand the residents there.
“I could see a lot of ins and outs,” Meserve said, “But there are no real big complaints.”
The residents and staff of the home hosted a party for Meserve upon her return to the home as a volunteer.
“A big surprise,” Meserve said.
Although Meserve admits to “not being as active” as she was before Christmas 2006, Brennick said Meserve keeps an extremely busy schedule between support group meetings, offering support to residents at the home, her church, family, and other commitments.
Brennick, having been in the long term care provider business for 19 years, said there is indeed “something different” about the veterans’ home. She said she often is impressed by how happy the residents are, which Meserve is no small part of.
“I just kind of stay here,” Meserve said.
Over the many years Meserve has been at the veterans’ home, she’s noticed a difference in the residents, she said.
“It seems like they’re much more unhealthy than they used to be,” Meserve said. Brennick agreed, saying when Meserve and her husband originally came to the center, the qualifications for residency weren’t as strict as they are now.
While the residents may be less active, Brennick said, their appreciation for Meserve and others at the home is just as great.
In addition to her time spent caring for others at the veterans’ home, Meserve continues to take care of her own family. Her daughter, Patti Sanford, a sufferer of lupus disease, has endured three hip surgeries and is confined to a wheelchair. In addition to helping taking care of her daughter, Meserve enjoys her time with her son, four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, who all live locally.
“I am very lucky,” Meserve said. “And I have a lot of friends.”
Brennick and Meserve both said the veterans home always welcomes new volunteers.
“I’ve never seen it as work,” Meserve said. “And if you want a lot of satisfaction in your life there’s no reason not to.”
Brennick said that once volunteers arrive at the home, like Meserve, they often return to the home long after their internship or community service is over. Meserve said she has brought many of her friends to volunteer at the center, “and they all love it as much as I do.”
If you would like to volunteer your time or for more information call the Maine Veterans Home in Scarborough at 207-883-7184.