News Print Coverage
Washtenaw County's growing older - quickly
Coalition seeks public input on issues that affect senior citizens and their caregivers
By Liz Cobbs
News Staff Reporter
Ann Arbor News
June 20, 2005
© 2005, The Ann Arbor News. All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission.
The number of Washtenaw County residents over age 65 is projected to grow nearly three-fold in the next few decades and a community coalition is preparing to meet the need for more older adult services and support for families.
The Blueprint for Aging of Washtenaw County, a coalition of more than 40 public, private and nonprofit organizations and community members interested or involved with older adult programs and services, is holding a Town Hall meeting Wednesday.
The group will present some of the plans and ideas it has been working on over the past two years, but it wants more input from local residents, said Dana Bright, Blueprint for Aging project manager.
“The town hall will provide an opportunity for them to react to the blueprint and give us their suggestions and solutions that they think we might want to investigate,” Bright said.
According to an executive summary of the blueprint, the project had its origins in the late 1990s when a group of local agencies that serve older adults met regularly to identify and address priority issues affecting the elderly population. At the time, there was no community-wide plan to address the needs of older adults in the county.
Wanting to create a plan, a group of agencies requested and received a grant from the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation to pursue the project that became known as the Blueprint for Aging Services Partnership.
The partnership released its findings in September 2003. The report found, among other things, that there was little public awareness and understanding of major issues affecting the quality of life of older adults in the county. It found there was not enough help and support for family caregivers, and that there were problems getting information about programs and services to older adults and family members.
The blueprint also included a September 2002 regional development forecast from the Southeast Michigan Council of Governments that projected the over-65 population in Washtenaw County to go from 26,271 in 2000 to 72,631 in 2030.
In 2004, the Blueprint for Aging became part of the Community Partnerships for Older Adults, a national program of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which promotes community partnerships to improve long-term care and support services that meet the needs of older adults. The foundation’s 18-month, $150,000 grant will allow the group to continue its efforts and hold town meetings, Bright said.
Recently, Washtenaw County and project officials announced that the Blueprint for Aging’s leadership team will work with a specialized county human services group to work on issues and policies affecting older adults and their caregivers.
The Blueprint for Aging report can be found online at: csswashtenaw.org/basp.
Liz Cobbs can be reached at lcobbs@annarbornews.com or (734) 994-6810.
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