|
Maricopa CARES and the Senior Adult Network came into existence formally just prior to passage of the District's last bond election so it seems appropriate that this year, with a new bond election, we would take stock of what we are doing and where we are going. We have seen tremendous growth in programming for older adults internally and within our external communities over the last decade. Two new centers, one at Sun Lakes and the other in the Sun Cities area, were built with revenues from the last bond. Both centers are bursting at the seams and overflowing with participants as are lifelong learning programs at most of our colleges. The growth no doubt derives from excellence in the delivery of education as well as demographic realities that make senior services the place to be.
The demographic changes are more complex than just increased numbers of older folks. For years now we have seen an extension of middle age along with rising life expectancy. Gerontologists talk about the young old and the old old and offer prescriptions for successful aging. Chronological age, long suspect as a measure of the consequences of years, gave way decades ago to an appreciation for functional age-what a person can do-as a preferred measure of aging. We now recognize the possibility that people compensate for some of the limitations associated with age. Thus they may feel younger than they are and may resist settings frequented by their age cohort.
Changes over the years have also seen age norms give way to age timetables so that expectations about what we will be doing at various times in our lives are no longer strictly reinforced by social sanctions. Whose rule is it that a grandmother should have gray hair or that one should graduate from college in his early twenties? We live in a different world, one turned upside down and sideways, one in which we have ceased to expect linear progression through life from birth to school to work to retirement and then to death.
Many of us have abhorred ageism-along with racism and sexism-for the discrimination that results in degradation, lost opportunities, and diminished quality of life. The oldest boomers are now beginning to experience a new ageism characterized by solicitous store clerks and patronizing neighbors. It would suffice to laugh at this if it did not ultimately eat away at self esteem and were it not an indication of a general perception that one is growing less able with advancing years.
Recognizing the myriad implications of our aging bodies and our aging communities, the Senior Adult Network has renamed itself the CARES Network and extended its focus to mature adults of all ages. We now truly address issues of lifelong learning and seek to serve the masses. Our work is more complicated because our audience is increasingly diverse. But we embrace aging, recognizing that everybody's doing it!
Last spring's CARES column focused on Life Options, an initiative underway in the valley and across the country that partners organizations in creative ways to establish places and programs to address the needs and interests of mature adults. These new endeavors are cognizant of the capacity of aging adults to make meaningful contributions in service to community by joining productivity with public engagement. The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust is funding several Life Options programs including ones involving Chandler Gilbert, Mesa, and Scottsdale Community Colleges. Special congratulations go to those directly involved.
| 
