Orange County to kick off Master Aging Plan for expanding senior population

With the renewal of the Master Aging Plan, Orange County will begin to prepare for its expanding senior population.

Today, the Orange County Department on Aging will hold a kickoff event for the plan at the Robert and Pearl Seymour Center.

“Demographically, this issue is important because the number of older adults is about to have tremendous growth because of the boomer generation,” said Heather Altman, chairwoman of the Orange County Advisory Board on Aging.

There are nearly 18,000 Orange County residents aged 60 or above, according to 2010 U.S. Census data.

Following the kickoff event, the Department of Aging will create a team to present the new Master Aging Plan in May 2012.

Tackling aging issues

To address the growing senior population, the county partnered with the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health to conduct formative research, said Janice Tyler, director of the Orange County Department on Aging.

Rebecca Woodruff, one of the graduate students selected to work with the department, said the group identified housing, transportation and health care as key issues.

Residents are encouraged to add to the list of priorities, Tyler said.

“We want the community to come together and identify what needs to happen,” she said.

Once the new Master Aging Plan is unveiled, Tyler said departments will make adjustments to make Orange County a better place for the older adult community.

“A community that is supportive of older adults is a community that supports everyone,” Altman said.

The plan may help the county reformulate access to primary care physicians and hospitals and ensure it has enough long-term care facilities, she said.

The plan also looks to guarantee there will be enough suitable homes at an affordable price for seniors, Altman said.

The Master Aging Plan will consider access to transportation for all the senior adults in the county, including those in rural?areas, she said.Aging in Orange County

The county doesn’t have an unusually high number of seniors, but those numbers are growing and concentrated in Chapel Hill.

According to U.S. Census estimates, 17.4 percent of Orange County households housed someone older than 65 in 2009, compared to 22.4 percent statewide.

But, following state and national trends, one county study projected that Orange County’s senior population will grow to more than 33,302 by 2030, more than doubling from 1998.

According to the 2007 Master Aging Plan, an upcoming age increase will have the most impact in Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Hillsborough and part of Mebane.

Approximately 60 percent of all Orange County elderly persons live within the towns’ boundaries, according to the 2007 plan.

Chapel Hill has the highest concentration of seniors in the county, though it’s a college town.

According to the plan, older adults make up 10 percent of the total population in Chapel Hill.

“This is a wonderful opportunity, not a burden, to meet the growing needs of a growing population,” Altman said.

Contact the City Editor at city@dailytarheel.com.