Forum on County’s Aging Population

How should Alameda County address the ongoing needs of an aging population in the next 10 years? An online forum scheduled for December 3 aims to explore that question, and its organizers are asking for honest input from the community.

“We want to hear from the public. We want to hear what we as a coalition of leaders need to be doing about an issue. To do that, we need to hear what is important to people over 60,” said Senior Services Coalition of Alameda County director, Wendy Peterson. “It’s a huge undertaking with a wide-ranging set of initiatives that tries to be practical, and action-orientated.” 

According to state population data, 27.7 percent of the population (8.2 million persons) are 60 years or older. In Alameda County, 16.59 percent of the population is 65 years and older (279,196 persons). That number is expected to grow over the next 10 years as the 55 to 64-year-old demographic makes up 12.22 percent of Alameda County’s population (205,536 persons).

To address this growing need, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-14-19 back in 2019 to bring together state and local governments along with non-profit organizations that support older residents and improve conditions across the board by 2030.

The so-called blueprint or Master Plan for Aging outlines five broad goals including providing affordable housing; improving access to health services, protecting older residents from discrimination, abuse, neglect, and exploitation; creating one million high-quality caregiving jobs; and closing the equity gap in and increase elder economic sufficiency.

“The housing crisis is a big one but making sure that supportive services are better integrated with health care and supporting caregivers and a workforce with the skillset and knowledge to provide quality care and work with older adults that really support them… those are equally important,” Peterson said.

In some cases, Alameda County is leading the charge, Peterson adds. The Home Safe program, which provides support services for older people who identify as homeless, was piloted in the county and found its way into the housing section of the state’s Master Plan five years ago. 

“We’re also making great inroads with our training program for working with people with dementia,” Peterson said.

Piloted in Alameda County, “Embracing Aging” is a training program meant to work with people who may or may not be medical practitioners who may or may not work with older residents. The program trains these caregivers to become more sensitive to older adults, to recognize their specific needs, and to treat them with respect. The program rolled out to different parts of the county, Peterson said adding she is eager to add additional outside partners to complete this action item.

The 3-hour event entitled, Alameda County Perspectives: The California Master Plan for Aging, will include speeches by federal, state, and local leaders including US Congresswoman Barbara Lee. Speakers from the SCAN Foundation will review what has been done over the last year followed by a roundtable of members of a health and wellbeing committee discussing how residents can help at all levels.

Finally, the attendees will be broken into 10 groups for an hour. The groups are based on the five goals with the intent of hearing from older residents about their specific needs.

“Our coalition works on systems and change to move the dial to make the county a better place for seniors to survive and the right systems to help support people,” Peterson said. “This forum is very important in establishing state policies and spending so that we are really in line with the needs of older adults. It has taken us a long time for the State to take this seriously and evolve and transform California to be a place for people to age.”

Registration is free and spaces are still available for the December 3 event. Visit the seniorservicescoalition.org website for more information.

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