GRAND Magazine - September/October 2018 - 10

the future of aging

What is the "age-friendly" craze all about?

Age-friendly communities, age-friendly health care, age-friendly homes and businesses-the term seems
to be popping up everywhere, but what exactly does it mean? More importantly, why should it matter?
BY KATHY BLACK

have recognized explicit roles in better serving their aging clientele. Today, age-friendly healthcare organizations are focusing on
what matters most to older patients, along with special attention to
medication, mobility, and mental activities that have been shown
to improve the outcomes and experience during an inpatient stay.
Age-friendly homes are incorporating elements of universal design,
such as using a lever instead of a doorknob for easier room access
for persons of all ages. Age-friendly businesses are focused on
respectful interaction with older customers as well as accommodating physical space with enhanced lighting and seating and communication via larger font sizes. It turns out that small, and in many
cases, no-cost changes can make a big difference.

n 2005, responding to an aging world in which two people
turn 65 every second, the World Health Organization coined
the phrase "age-friendly communities" to describe its creation of a global network that aims to enhance active, healthy,
and engaged living for people at all life stages and abilities across
the life span. Today, more than 700 communities worldwide have
joined the network, including nearly 300 in the United States. In
the U.S., the movement has been bolstered by AARP in alignment
with their Livable Communities initiative, which also focuses on
enhancing community features that enable people to fully participate in social, civic, and economic life at any age.

"This is a country where it is
wonderful to be young. It must
also become a country where it is
wonderful to be old."

Ethel Percy Andrus, founder of AARP

To join the network of global age-friendly communities, municipalities need to make a five-year commitment to assess and plan
for the needs and preferences of their aging residents-and create
and implement an action plan designed to make a difference. The
process engages many sectors, including nonprofits and businesses,
along with community groups and residents, to think about features
of physical surroundings, from buildings to parks, as well as social
needs, such as transportation, civic participation, and community
10 GRAND

SEPTEMBER OCTOBER 2018

Visit these links to learn more about
our age-friendly future.

support, which impact our ability to age well with dignity.
Such efforts can make a big difference. For example, consider
that we outlive our safe driving abilities by seven to ten years
and that most of us live in car-dependent suburban settings.
Expanding transportation options that take into account accessibility and adaptive needs-such as ride-sharing services, help for
door-to-door service, wheelchair ramps, or storage capacity for a
walker-can better enable us to get where we need or want to go.
In addition to community efforts, many other organizations

Age-friendly World
Livable Communities
The John A. Hartford Foundation
Age-Friendly Sarasota Universal Design

Kathy Black is a professor at the University
of South Florida, a Next Avenue Top 50
National Influencer in Aging, a Hartford
Geriatric Faculty Scholar, and lead advisor
for Age-Friendly Sarasota.

Continued on next page

https://www.facebook.com/GRANDmagazine/ https://www.twitter.com/grandMmagazine https://extranet.who.int/agefriendlyworld/ https://www.aarp.org/livable-communities/ https://www.johnahartford.org/ https://www.agefriendlysarasota.org/blog/look-age-friendly-universal-design.html

GRAND Magazine - September/October 2018

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