After a few years as a geriatric social worker for Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Marybeth Duffy is coming home.
Duffy, who worked at the former Waltham Hospital for 23 years, starts her job as director of the city's Council on Aging today.
"I know the city well," Duffy said. "During my years at Waltham Hospital, I worked very closely with the Council on Aging staff."
Duffy, 51, is replacing former Director Ruth Gately, who retired at the end of June after 20 years.
"We have been operating without a director (for a month), so I am really looking forward to having Marybeth here," said Elaine Williams, an administration assistant at the council.
Despite getting emotional on her last day at Mount Auburn on Friday afternoon, Duffy said she looks forward to coming back to Waltham. Directing the Council on Aging, she said, has long been her ultimate career goal.
"While working in the hospital settings, I always considered the Council on Aging to be the next step in my career," she said. "My goal in this job is to keep the older residents of Waltham active, healthy and informed."
After earning her bachelor's in social work at Providence College and a master's at Boston College, Duffy began her career as a social worker in a Brighton nursing home. She went on to a clinical social work internship at Waltham Hospital, where she worked her way up and became director of the department within seven years.
Duffy said she focused her career on the elderly because she saw them as "a group of underserved people. I always found the dynamics of aging and life reflection to be very fascinating."
As a social worker specializing in geriatrics, Duffy said she has encountered councils on aging in several cities and towns. But she said the facilities and programming at the Waltham council's William F. Stanley Senior Center on Main Street, which she compared to a college campus, far surpass any other councils she has seen.
"I would like to build on the foundation started by Ruth Gately," she said. "They have a state-of-the-art senior center there and I would like to bring even more people in to increase the utilization."
Duffy said she will work in the new post to fight what she sees as one of the most serious problems facing seniors today: isolation.
"Isolation leads to depression and physical decline," she said. "By keeping the programming strong in Waltham, it will keep them (seniors) connected."
The Council on Aging is having a welcoming tea to introduce Duffy to area seniors on Aug. 16, from 1 to 2:30 p.m. at the Senior Center, 488 Main St. Attendees may RSVP at 781-899-7228.
Nicole Haley can be reached at nhaley@cnc.com or 781-398-8004.
