The San Diego Union Tribune dedicated a recent OpEd page, “Retirees’ Road Ahead,” to how San Diego County is preparing for the nearly 1 million residents over 60 expected to live here by 2030. After reading about current and proposed programs for older San Diegans, I was encouraged by the positive differences they could make and started envisioning more improvements. If you, like me, plan to be here just eight years from now, join me in appreciating what already is available, and imagining what could be, in an age-friendly San Diego.
The SDUT articles in “Retirees’ Road Ahead” focused on different community centers that already provide older adults with social connections, health and fitness classes, lifelong learning, recreation, and other services
. In her article, Jean Durgan painted an inspiring picture of seniors helping other seniors escape isolation and stay connected and independent at the Peninsula Shepherd
Senior Center and Ryan Family YMCA in Point Loma. How can we replicate Jean and her wonderful energy in other areas of San Diego?
Melanie Rubin, director of adult and senior programs, described what’s currently offered to about 500 older adults at the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center Jacobs Family Campus, through its social, educational, cultural and recreational programs. This fall that campus plans to launch a retirement academy with a comprehensive series of workshops to help those considering retirement or recently retired create their retirement roadmaps. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have such support for quality aging throughout San Diego?
Founder and board member of the San Diego Seniors Community Foundation, Bob Kelly, proposes a way to do this. His organization has written the San Diego Master Plan for Senior Centers, which “calls for investing approximately $147 million to start creating a thoroughly modern, interconnected network of sophisticated, state-of-the-art senior centers.” With these centers in place, our older adults throughout the county would thrive!
As a group, we baby boomers are healthier and more active than older adults of the past. Our sheer numbers, however, will have a big effect on our healthcare community. We have already made progress here. UC San Diego has two fully accredited geriatric emergency departments designed with the unique needs of older adults in mind. The UC Center for Healthy Aging makes its latest research readily available to the community through lectures and conferences. And, as any of you who are older knows, there are still many healthcare challenges. Wouldn’t you like to know, for example, that every healthcare professional you interact with, from the receptionist to the surgeon, has had some geriatric training or experience with older adults. This training is available through Aging and Independent Services and other organizations and needs to be expanded. What would you like to experience when you enter the world of healthcare?
As older adults we can be proud of how many of us breached the digital divide during Covid and learned to make technology, and Zoom, our friends. This is an area where we need to keep growing to be ready for 2030. San Diego Oasis with its annual technology fair and hands-on computer workshops and the Serving Seniors Cyber Cafe are just two of the many organizations that have stepped up to improve older adults’ technology skills and accessibility. As more and more apps, programs, virtual services, and robots are created to help us age with dignity and ease, we need to continue to have ways for all seniors to learn and access them.
Of course, San Diego cannot consider itself an age-friendly community if it doesn’t do better for its low-income and homeless older adults. It’s no surprise that the recent 2022 Point in Time Count reported that one in four San Diego County residents experiencing homelessness are 55 and older. This is a complex issue with no simple answers, and I encourage you to read the Serving Seniors recent research on this topic – https://servingseniors.org/news-events/senior-homelessness-a-needs-assessment.html. Being aware of the problem is the first step to finding solutions.
There is lots more to think about and share on how San Diego and other areas are preparing for our aging population growth. If you’re interested in learning more, I encourage you to explore Aging Roadmap, the county’s comprehensive approach to aging services, and one of its key components, Age Well San Diego https://www.livewellsd.org/content/livewell/home/Topics/aging/age-well-san-diego.html. Community-led teams have been working on age-friendly projects in several areas, such as Housing, Health and Community Support, and Social Participation. Maybe you’ll be called to hit the Get Involved button on the website. I may meet you there.