News / Clark County News

Census: Aging residents stepping to the fore

Number of county residents 65 or older climbed 40% between 2010 and 2016

By Patty Hastings, Columbian Social Services, Demographics, Faith

Published: June 22, 2017, 8:22pm

2 Photos

The Forever Young Hikers of Vancouver, led by Geoff Fowler, right, take an urban hike through Northwest Portland in December 2015. The group is tailored to those 50 and older and consistently has waiting lists for its outings. (The Columbian files) Photo Gallery

Thirty people showed up at the most recent orientation for Vancouver’s Forever Young Hike program. Almost every hike, tailored to people age 50 and older, has a waiting list.

“We’ve got a lot of people coming in. It seems like almost every week there’s somebody new in there,” said Duke Silva, a hike leader. In the handful of years he’s been involved, he’s seen the program grow, particularly in the last couple of years.

“We’re kind of bursting at our seams,” said Kelly Lund, recreation specialist for the 50 and Better program at Vancouver Parks & Recreation.

More hikes were added to help meet demand; there are two hikes every Tuesday and hikes were added on the second and fourth Monday of each month.

While the hikes are certainly a hit, there’s another thing driving demand: The rapid growth of the 65-and-older population in Clark County. The number of people in that age group grew nearly 40 percent between 2010 and 2016, according to data released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. That’s an increase of nearly 20,000 people.

Clark County isn’t alone. Two-thirds of the nation’s counties experienced an increase in median age. The Census attributes most of that growth to baby boomers, who began turning 65 in 2011.

Clark County and the counties that border it all experienced an increase in the median age. Clark County’s is 38.2, slightly older than the state’s median age of 37.7. Neighboring Multnomah County, Ore., is younger with a median age of 37, while Skamania County is older with a median age of 46.5. (When the Census released American Community Survey data in December, the agency noted that median ages in rural areas were higher nationwide than urban areas.)

The fact that Clark County is aging isn’t at all surprising to Marjorie Ledell, chair of the Clark County Commission on Aging, a nine-member panel that implements the county’s Aging Readiness Plan. The commission was formed in 2012 by what was then the three-member Board of Clark County Commissioners for the express purpose of dealing with a rapidly aging population.

“We expect the rate of increase to continue,” Ledell said. “We know that people are not only living longer, but they’re healthier longer.”

Silva said a lot of the participants in the Forever Young Hike program, mostly women, are committed to improving their health. County Council Chair Marc Boldt, who helped create the Commission on Aging, said he’s interested in improving social services for older people, housing and transportation, as well as making streets more walkable for retirees trying to stay active.

He also noted: “Since we’re not an income tax state, people gravitate to us for retirement.”

Still, Clark County is not nearly as old as other places. Last year, in Sumter County, Fla., west of Orlando, the median age was 67.1, making it the oldest county in the country. The state of Maine had the highest median age among states at 44.6.

Last year’s Commission on Aging speaker series focused on affordable housing and aging in place, and delivered policy recommendations to the Clark County council that Boldt said will be addressed in future work sessions. Those include identifying tax credits, incentives or grants for homeowners or builders to create more accessible housing; ensuring that new neighborhoods are built accessibly, with sidewalks that have curb cuts; improving existing neighborhoods, and developing standard blueprints that make implementing universal design easier.

This year, the Commission on Aging is focusing on supportive services, namely answering the questions: Are there services available? Do people know about them? Do people have access to those services? Ledell said there’s a lot of interest around caregiver services.

“We know that’s a concern, and we know that people depend on caregivers for a variety of reasons,” she said.

One of those service providers is the Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities of Southwest Washington, which serves about 14,000 people in a five-county area. The agency has added several employees since 2010. As the 65-and-older crowd gets bigger, “it’s added pressure,” said David Kelly, the executive director.

In 2010, the agency had about 3,100 Medicaid clients in its aging-in-place program that helps with in-home care. Nowadays, there are about 4,400 clients. Kelly said the state has been responsive to providing more funding for those caregiving services, because in the end they save the state money; in-home nursing care costs $3,000 to $5,000 less per person per month than an assisted living facility, Kelly said. The agency offers a training program for family caregivers.

“We’re in an interesting arena,” Kelly said. “Knock on wood, we hope we’ll be responsive to the growth in the future.”

His biggest concerns are single, aging women whose only source of income is Social Security and adults who are 85 and older — at which age they’re considered “vulnerable.”

However, he said, whenever there’s talk of the growing burden of the 65-and-older population, people often forget to mention tremendous resources that are associated with talented retirees who have the energy, skills and willingness to give back to the community. The uptick in volunteers at the Area Agency on Aging & Disabilities comes from that same age group.

People who are 60 and older are the backbone of volunteer organizations, Ledell said, and there’s a lot they can still contribute as they age.

“Even though they have more yesterdays than tomorrows, they are more focused on tomorrow,” Ledell said.

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