July 24, 2016
By Erin McIntyre
Mesa County has traditionally attracted a larger segment of older folks than the rest of the state, a trend that has been around for decades and will only continue, demographers say.
As a result, the county has a wide variety of services to help seniors remain independent and enjoy a good quality of life as they age. In fact, representatives from across Colorado are looking at how this part of the state has supported seniors in meetings with the Strategic Action Planning Group on Aging, a group charged with making recommendations to the state Legislature.
Dave Norman has been the director of the Area Agency on Aging for more than 40 years, and he’s a member of that strategic planning group tasked with identifying some of the challenges and solutions to having an increasingly older population. When he started his career, helping to support older folks was a fairly new field of work prompted by the Older Americans Act, originally adopted in 1965 by Congress. The act established funding for services to keep the elderly healthy and independent — with home and community-based services like meals, senior centers, caregiver support, transportation and more. By 1973, the act was renewed to create area agencies on aging to plan, coordinate and offer services to help older people to stay in their homes as they age.
Back in 1974, Norman managed a 16-county area in western Colorado and transportation was identified as the biggest need. The agency’s budget was $35,000, and they bought five vans for getting people where they needed to go, mostly to Grand Junction for medical services from places like Rangely.
Now, it’s about making sure seniors know they can just pick up a phone and dial three numbers to get access to any service they could possibly want. The agency’s 2-1-1 service, operated by Mesa County, is a clearinghouse for anyone seeking help. It’s part of a “no wrong door” approach the agency adopted to help folks get help and centralize their programs, to be more efficient and have less chance that people will fall through the cracks, Norman said.
Norman has seen a lot of change and growth since he started, both in the needs of the community and the sheer number of older folks in the area who make up a larger slice of the population than they used to.
Today, his program costs about $2.8 million, and serves about 3,200 people in Mesa, Rio Blanco, Garfield, Moffat and Routt counties. It’s the largest region in the state, covering 16,647 square miles, and the distance between towns is a challenge for providers to reach seniors who need assistance.
Despite that challenge, Norman estimates services are reaching approximately one in 10 people over the age of 60 in the region. The agency spends an average of $1,000 per year to keep people in their homes, while the average cost of a private room in assisted living for a year is about $37,000, according to the 2015 Genworth Cost of Care Survey. Sometimes staying home is as simple as arranging for meal delivery, getting a swamp cooler hooked up or taking them to get groceries.
The agency also helps people access the state Medicaid Home and Community Based Services to allow them to receive support to stay in their homes. Norman said there are currently about 1,800 people who are not in assisted living facilities but meet the qualifications for living in those facilities. “We actually are taking care of more people in their home than we have in facilities and institutions,” Norman said.
Currently in Mesa County, assisting seniors with home maintenance is the top issue that needs to be addressed, he said.
The challenge is keeping up with demand, Norman said, as the boomer generation continues to age. Mesa County is predicted to have residents age 65 or older comprise almost 20 percent of its population by 2020, according to the State Demography Office.
Meanwhile, older residents continue to move to Mesa County. Overall, the Western Slope seems to be an attractive place to move for those aged 65 and older, with state demography data showing that age group is moving away from high-country ski resort counties (Eagle, Summit, Grand and Pitkin) since 2010. Meanwhile, Mesa County had the second-highest influx of people aged 65 and older moving into its boundaries in the state. Montrose County had the highest net migration of people aged 65 and older in Colorado.