Note: This article was originally published in the Spirit of Jefferson on November 23, 2022. It is the first part of a two-part column dedicated to the growing population of seniors in the county. You can read the first article in the post Senior Social Services in Jefferson County
Jefferson County’s population is becoming proportionally older. The American Community of 2019 by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that 15.6 percent of our population is 65 or older. In 2010 that number was 11.9 percent.
In this respect, the county is following the same trend as West Virginia and the United States as a whole. We’re getting older along with the state and the country, but the trends are more dramatic in Jefferson County. For instance, the county had a 21.5 percent increase in people aged 60-64 from the five-year average of 2010-2014, while the increase in the United States over the same period was 11.8 percent and only 2.5 percent in West Virginia.
People in this age group, 60-64, are those nearing the official retirement age of 65 when they are eligible for government programs for seniors. It’s hard to see that level of growth as anything other than an increase in the number of “near seniors” moving here to retire. Other American Community Survey data do not support the idea that these people were all home grown. The preceding age group, those 55-59, shows a decrease from 2010-2014, meaning that homegrown people in this slightly younger age group are on net, emigrating out of the county and being replaced by newcomers. If there’s truth to this claim, Jefferson County shows signs of being a preferred retirement destination.
Are we becoming Florida on the Potomac? That might be a stretch, but what is it about the county that seniors find appealing? The simple answer has to be that the county comes across as a safe and welcoming space. But what does this mean actually?
In 2006, the World Health Organization set guidelines for what safe and welcoming means and what it takes to create environments sensitive to the needs of all people in a community, especially seniors. This program, branded as the WHO Global Network for Age-friendly Cities and Communities, enlisted the help of organizations around the world interested in creating such communities. In the United States the AARP took on this role, launched the AARP Livable Communities initiative and set up a program that communities could apply to for certification as an Age-Friendly City.
The AARP criteria ask for evidence that a community addresses the basic needs of seniors and provides opportunities for them to learn, grow, make decisions, and contribute to the wider community. A lot of factors go into deciding how a community meets these requirements: health, nutrition, work, mobility, transportation, housing, recreation, among others.
In some way this was an “already done deal” in Shepherdstown, since in the minds of many residents, the town already was age-friendly – at least in major respects. The purpose of applying for certification was not just to document what the town was successfully doing, but also to understand, using the AARP evaluation criteria, where there could be improvements made.
Part of the reason for thinking that Shepherdstown was in fact doing things right by their seniors was that there was already an active seniors group in the community. This was Shepherdstown Area Independent Living, SAIL as it’s called, which already had 8 years of existence as a membership organization advocating for local seniors.
SAIL was launched in 2010 as part of the Village-to-Village Network, a nationally based non-profit organization that assists seniors in setting up local organizations, called villages, to provide services and social opportunities to allow them to age in place; that is, to stay in their homes and be active in their communities as long as possible. At present the Network includes 238 villages. SAIL at this time is the only operating village in West Virginia.
The upshot was that SAIL, with a track record in advocating for seniors locally, came to spearhead the AARP application effort, when member and future president Linda Spatig was passed the helm from an exploratory committee. Together with representatives from Shepherd University, Shepherd Village and various business interests and church groups, the Shepherdstown Accessibility Committee, governed by the Age-Friendly Shepherdstown Advisory Board, went into full operation. In addition to drafting, getting town approval, and submitting a successful AARP application, the Committee continues to conduct needs assessments and draw up action plans. They interface with the town council through a formal liaison with one of the town council members, Marty Amerikaner, himself a SAIL member.
The idea of a persistent Accessibility Committee nudges in a positive way the town’s comprehensive plan to make continual improvements. This effort continues to be led by Linda Spatig, who cited results such as handrails on public steps near a busy campus crossing, improved lighting, making sidewalks level, and promoting walking and bike paths as successful and on-going efforts of the Accessibility Committee.
Each village in the Village-to-Village Network follows a general game plan set up by the Network to essentially do many of the same things that government-funded organizations for seniors do: assist members directly when asked and when needed, provide essential information to locate and procure services for seniors, provide social interaction through group sponsored activities, and so on. But it does this all within the scope of a non-profit, largely or exclusively staffed by volunteers.
SAIL this year celebrated its 10th year anniversary with a current membership of 130 individuals, starting from an initial nine members. Their 10 year track record is in itself a proof of concept; that is, that seniors can be and should be looked on as vital assets to their community. A detailed history and mission statement, written and pictured, is available on SAIL’s website, sail.clubexpress.com.
I interviewed the current president of SAIL, Marianne Alexander, and three past presidents to get a sense of how the organization has matured over that ten year span, how each leader has built on their predecessors’ accomplishments to sustain and grow the group, and to consider what kind of changes are needed to evolve the organization itself as it ages.
Jack Young, who was one of the founding members and a past president, is still on the SAIL board and is an active volunteer. During the early years of SAIL he mentioned being inspired by an article about an organization called the Center for Creative Retirement at the University of North Carolina Asheville (now called the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute), which set up a program in the area of what has come to be known as lifelong learning for seniors. Young approached the then president of Shepherd University, Suzanne Shipley, to consider setting up a similar program. The interest was there as part of the university’s “town and gown” directive and Karen Rice, the program’s director, acknowledged the influence of SAIL in getting the program started. She also recognized that the program’s on-going success is due in no small part to the participation of many SAIL members as instructors and students.
Carolyn Rodis, who succeeded Young as president in 2017 was focused on two issues: intergenerational interactions and strengthening SAIL’s programs for its aging members. It turns out that aging doesn’t stop just because you join SAIL. She fostered ongoing connections between the Shepherd University student body and SAIL members through mentoring and storytelling activities and cooperation with SU’s Psychology of Aging program, headed by Heidi Dobish. She also set up procedures for the Care of Members function to address the increasing frailty of SAIL’s oldest members. Both of these involvements address the issue of SAIL’s dual identity as a kind of seniors club and as an integrated part of the community. Rodis feels strongly that “SAIL should reflect the wider community. It shouldn’t be just a club.”
Linda Spatig, who succeeded Rodis as president, served during the COVID years when issues of senior isolation during lockdown periods became a stimulus to think about loneliness, depression and frailty, common consequences of aging made worse by isolation. SAIL had to curtail most of its face-to-face activities and put in place Zoom based meetings and group activities. Aging in place shouldn’t have to mean aging alone. During this period, the group also made connections with health providers to develop protocols to anticipate problems and be proactive for members.
Marianne Alexander, the current president, is guiding SAIL out of the pandemic area and continuing to extend its roots into the wider community. She wants to build stronger partnerships with other groups and to grow the diversity of the membership to better reflect all segments of the population. She summed up her position: “SAIL has a good track record of contributing to the community, but I foresee us becoming an advocate for all seniors in our community.”