More Subjects
The issue exists to build an aging community
Author
Institutional Affiliations
Author Note
The issue exists to build an aging community
Introduction
The irony in modern societies is that they tend to ensure the stability and prosperity that allow several people to grow old while rejecting to accept a suitable role for older people within a social order. Old age comes with numerous concerns and responsibilities. the concept of aging is dependent on various complicated and codependent factors including the social policies, political stance, demographics, economic situation and cultural values along with gender, class and race. In gerontology, the theories related to aging progress over time and it is obvious that the social policies and the public opinions take some time to catch up. The concept of familial importance has long been forgotten in United States since the beginning of past century. However, our culture has built a continuum that places institutional long term care on one side while an idealized vision related to aging in place. The real challenge for the American society is escaping the wrong choices while searching for a new way to facilitate the elders by creating age friendly communities.
It has become a national as well as an international concern to build age friendly communities. Various programs and initiatives have been taken in the past to ensure a stable and refined system for the elderly in our society. However, there are many challenges associated with the formulation and implementation of the age friendly goals. Numerous qualitative, quantitative and literatures reviews have been published so far in order to analyze the progress of building such a healthy and friendly environment along with the response of the elderly people and their families. Studies have suggested that the population of United States is aging at immense rate. After conducting several nation based surveys and research, it has been established that by the year 2030, one out of every five individuals in the United States would be aged 65 or older. By the year 2035, the total number of individuals older than 65 will exceed than the number of children who would be under 18 years ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"aV58EIXk","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(AARP, 2019)","plainCitation":"(AARP, 2019)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":415,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/LHEPBF9D"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/LHEPBF9D"],"itemData":{"id":415,"type":"report","title":"AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities","publisher":"AARP.org/Livable","author":[{"family":"AARP","given":""}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2019"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (AARP, 2019).
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to study the challenges faced by the adults and children in order to provide assistance and care to the older adults. There is also a gap in delivering the right and adequate information to the general public about the focus of social workers and political policy makers towards the issue. This paper will analyze different contributions of organizations in building an age friendly community.
Findings
The public policy and several other initiatives for the older population have primarily focused on the delivery of safety, healthcare, financial assistance and other benefits. Over the past few decades, the age friendly community initiatives (AFCIs) have provided a significant importance to the matter. These initiatives mainly engage with the stakeholders and from a number of sectors within any geographical area in order to make the social and physical environments more favorable for the elderly. The objective of such programs is to ensure their health, wellbeing, and the ability to grow old within any place or community. The community planning approach is a rational process as it requires civic engagement and cooperation of the individuals along with organizations from various fields such as transportation, housing and social participation. Support focused approach includes the collaboration of the local stakeholders and community volunteers in order to make environment more supportive and stable for the older people. Cross sector partnerships approach is the collaboration of multiple organizations and individuals for the planning and implementation of care and other services ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"BkIJjBFy","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Greenfield, Oberlink, Scharlach, Neal, & Stafford, 2015)","plainCitation":"(Greenfield, Oberlink, Scharlach, Neal, & Stafford, 2015)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":416,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/QAJ4VW77"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/QAJ4VW77"],"itemData":{"id":416,"type":"article-journal","title":"Age-friendly community initiatives: Conceptual issues and key questions","container-title":"The Gerontologist","page":"191-198","volume":"55","issue":"2","author":[{"family":"Greenfield","given":"Emily A."},{"family":"Oberlink","given":"Mia"},{"family":"Scharlach","given":"Andrew E."},{"family":"Neal","given":"Margaret B."},{"family":"Stafford","given":"Philip B."}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2015"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Greenfield, Oberlink, Scharlach, Neal, & Stafford, 2015).
The AARP Network of Age Friendly States and Communities work such that their objective is to raise awareness and educate the elected officials and the local residents. They motivate the local leaders for implementation of programs that make the communities livable for the older adults. They ensure the availability of resources for an age friendly community by indulging in research programs. It focuses on multiple domains such as outdoor spaces and buildings, mobility, residence, social activation, respect and social values, civic engagement, communication and information. The project of age friendly cities was launched by World Health Organization in 2007 and the design was mad such that it would provide security and healthier environment to the older citizens. Many states have been using the model to provide old age care to its citizens and implementation of new programs due to increased urbanization and paradigm shift in the aging policies ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"HRWCqZtG","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Filinson, Raimondo, & Maigret, 2016)","plainCitation":"(Filinson, Raimondo, & Maigret, 2016)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":417,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/JJ4DLPXQ"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/JJ4DLPXQ"],"itemData":{"id":417,"type":"article-journal","title":"Building age-friendly community: notes from the field","author":[{"family":"Filinson","given":"Rachel"},{"family":"Raimondo","given":"Marianne"},{"family":"Maigret","given":"Maureen"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2016"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Filinson, Raimondo, & Maigret, 2016).
As the baby boomers have reached to the age and require adequate facilities, it is imperative to initiate programs to build cities for all ages. The livable cities where they can receive all the care and services, would let them participate in the society like rest of the citizens. A City for All project will attract people of all ages and it can be achieved by expanding the horizon of senior housing options. Such cities should be able to match the requirements of all stages of life. Many such initiatives have been taken by Human Investment Project, Senior Housing Solutions, Burbank Senior Artists Colony, Senior Co-Housing and Green House Homes ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"AqjzOJDe","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Kennedy, 2010)","plainCitation":"(Kennedy, 2010)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":418,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/QVB96MLU"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/QVB96MLU"],"itemData":{"id":418,"type":"article-journal","title":"The City of 2050—An Age-Friendly, Vibrant, Intergenerational Community","container-title":"Generations","page":"70-75","volume":"34","issue":"3","author":[{"family":"Kennedy","given":"Christine"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2010"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Kennedy, 2010). Age Friendly Oxford Initiative has also been working with the affiliation of World Health Organization and AARP. The combined efforts have led to the approval of the City of Oxford in Ohio to fulfil the commitment of the age friendly communities. It comprises of all the facilities to accommodate all kinds of age groups ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"NIHja6qv","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Roy et al., 2019)","plainCitation":"(Roy et al., 2019)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":419,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/ZCP6BCBR"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/ZCP6BCBR"],"itemData":{"id":419,"type":"article-journal","title":"Age-Friendly Oxford: A Qualitative Study Conducted by the Miami First Year Research Experience (FYRE) Class of 2017-2018","author":[{"family":"Roy","given":"Senjooti"},{"family":"Baker","given":"Cole"},{"family":"Hall","given":"Bobbie"},{"family":"Pryor","given":"Tone"},{"family":"Heath","given":"Sara"},{"family":"Vaswani","given":"Sundeep"},{"family":"Woodford","given":"Cassandra"},{"family":"Bennington","given":"Brooke"},{"family":"Arnell","given":"Blair"},{"family":"Medeiros","given":"Kate","non-dropping-particle":"de"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2019"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Roy et al., 2019). It has primarily focused on the housing as the top priority followed by transportation, health, education, employment, volunteering and communication. Most of the individuals have reported that despite a few challenges, such cities provide a good housing place to grow old ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"cxDS4MhP","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Dhakal, Kunkel, Young, & Kessler, 2019)","plainCitation":"(Dhakal, Kunkel, Young, & Kessler, 2019)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":420,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/4NJWDZES"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/9Hfkg8Y0/items/4NJWDZES"],"itemData":{"id":420,"type":"article-journal","title":"Age-Friendly Oxford Community Needs Assessment: Report to the Age-Friendly Oxford Leadership Advisory Group","author":[{"family":"Dhakal","given":"Usha"},{"family":"Kunkel","given":"Suzanne R."},{"family":"Young","given":"Meghan A."},{"family":"Kessler","given":"Valerie"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2019"]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Dhakal, Kunkel, Young, & Kessler, 2019).
Conclusion
It should be made viable to ensure effective city planning along with the national and global awareness over the matter of providing safe and effective living conditions for the older adults as their number have significantly increased and continues to increase every year. The policy makers and the bureaucrats also need to provide sufficient time, funding and ordinances that ensures the housing and other living choices for the senior citizens. The private and public organizations with the help of social societies can bring about significant improvements in the implementation and propagation of age friendly communities.
References
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY AARP. (2019). AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities. AARP.org/Livable.
Dhakal, U., Kunkel, S. R., Young, M. A., & Kessler, V. (2019). Age-Friendly Oxford Community Needs Assessment: Report to the Age-Friendly Oxford Leadership Advisory Group.
Filinson, R., Raimondo, M., & Maigret, M. (2016). Building age-friendly community: Notes from the field.
Greenfield, E. A., Oberlink, M., Scharlach, A. E., Neal, M. B., & Stafford, P. B. (2015). Age-friendly community initiatives: Conceptual issues and key questions. The Gerontologist, 55(2), 191–198.
Kennedy, C. (2010). The City of 2050—An Age-Friendly, Vibrant, Intergenerational Community. Generations, 34(3), 70–75.
Roy, S., Baker, C., Hall, B., Pryor, T., Heath, S., Vaswani, S., … de Medeiros, K. (2019). Age-Friendly Oxford: A Qualitative Study Conducted by the Miami First Year Research Experience (FYRE) Class of 2017-2018.
More Subjects
Join our mailing list
© All Rights Reserved 2024