Jennie Griggs, MA
Program Director Senior Centers; Resources for Seniors
The Town of Wake Forest is doing an outstanding job evolving into a sustainable community. With additions like the Joyner Park Community Center and the newly renovated Northern Wake Senior Center, our town has provided a forum for advocates of all ages to work together building a support system to encourage a common agenda. We are a community that continually contributes to the ability of each citizen.
The intergenerational collaboration will unite and improve our community. It is this notion that has inspired me to write this bi-monthly column entitled, “Engage with Age.” I hope that you enjoy it and gain a greater understanding of our aging population and the issues that surround our aging residents.
The newly renovated senior center is the result of the 2014 Wake Forest Bond Referendum Initiative. The building was completed in February of this year at a total cost of approximately $4 million. The facility once approximately 8,000 sq. ft. is now over 18,000 sq. ft. and hardly recognizable.
The senior center represents a shift that has begun to occur, addressing wellness and the aging population from a holistic perspective. Wellness is defined as “the active pursuit of activities choices and lifestyles that lead to a state of holistic health.” (Statistics & Facts, n.d.) Interestingly, on a national level, the Wellness Revolution economically tops off the consumer-driven value to 4.2 trillion dollars in the United States revolving around the services, real estate, and products that occur as a result of this lifestyle.
This holistic approach is evident in the NWSC (Northern Wake Senior Center) when you enter and experience the Biophilic Design principles applied by Interior Designer, Stephanie Kaeberlein, owner of Matchline Interiors. It is not the same senior center as you expect or remember.
The facility, its furnishings, and energy reflect a new way to do old things respecting and emphasizing what was decisive in our existence. Over the last several years, senior centers have experienced identity and financial crises. In 2012 the Administration of Aging (AOA), a federal agency, even changed its name to The Administration of Community Living. It is estimated by 2022 that many other municipalities will investigate and propose alternatives for future senior center programming and infrastructure much as Wake Forest did.
The Town of Wake Forest owns the NWFSC building and its interior furnishings. They are responsible for the maintenance as well. We are so fortunate to have this “gift.” Resources for Seniors, a not-for-profit specializing in aging resources, services, and needs, manages the facility.
Over the last several years, another premise has become quite evident, and that is that our culture has shifted to a population intent on segregating age. In doing so, we have caused non-acceptance and bias, limited socialization and isolation, as well as economic concern and potential loss of affordable housing and care for the aging population today and in the days to come. The Aging Tsunami will continue until 2060. We have a long way to go to be a sustainable civilization.
A few facts:
- 1 in 16 people in the United States is over age 50.
- 34% of the workplace in the United States is over age 50.
- In 2020 25% of the workforce will be 55 and older.
- In 2030: 1 in 5 people in the State of NC will be 65 plus.
- Between 2000 and 2016, Wake County saw 124% growth in the population of those 62 and over.
So, what about the future? The future in Wake Forest looks bright with conceptual programming and design. The Wellness Revolution is in full swing because the aging population here is demanding its existence. For the future to provide the needed products and services, the community will need to continue to progress to settings that are urban in nature, where all the services and dimensions needed for wellness can be provided. In addition, our community must focus on intergenerational engagement. If the elders are to survive in a state of well-being and the young are to thrive representing the core of American values including respect for one another as well as our environment, we need to “Engage with Age” and walk hand in hand celebrating the core elements of unselfish behaviors defined with a definitive sense of health and wellness regardless of age based on the “educated truths” not hearsay or assumptions in our society today.
Recently, I attended the State of the Town of Wake Forest, 2020, and was so impressed with our Mayor, Vivian Jones. She spoke of the community coming together, respecting one another, and volunteerism. She so eloquently said, “Voting is your ultimate exercise in a democracy you vote once a year. When you volunteer, you determine what kind of community you will live in.”
What kind of community do you want to live in? We encourage you to engage with the Northern Wake Senior Center and become educated through knowledge and experience. Just last week, one of our volunteers, Jerry Glenn from the NWFSC Advisory Board, spoke to the national honor society at Wake Forest High School. We had no idea that 240 students would show up for the presentation. (and we wonder about the next generation?) As a result, our community will be developing a program with the students to come after school and volunteer to assist and participate in a variety of senior center programs. They will be using their strengths with technical knowledge to assist aging generations with various technical issues, and in exchange, the older generation will find purpose mentoring, teaching them lost arts such as quilting and wood carving. Both generations will come together with activities involving music and storytelling. Why? Because scholars like George Valiant tell us that older people and younger people connected are three times as happy as others, and the intergenerational relationship acts as the centerpiece for joy and empathy needed to be shared among both generations.
In closing, we welcome you to the new center. We hope we will see you there. You will be welcomed with warmth and appreciation. We hope everyone feels “happy and hopeful” regardless of what is going on in their lives. Please, “Engage with Age.” Stay close to those who like sunshine. Share your talents and make a difference. Remember, “Aging is Ageless,” It is a universal language! One of the few. You too will one day be there.
References:
Chmielewski, Emily, and Claire Dickey. 2016. “Centers for Healthy Living: Providing Whole-Person Wellness to Seniors.” Retrieved October 29, 2018 (https: www.perkinseastman.com/dynamic/document/week/asset/download/3434322.pdf).
Hollwich, Matthias. n.d. “New Aging.” New Aging. Retrieved October 31, 2018 (http://new-aging.com/).
“Statistics & Facts.” Global Wellness Institute. Retrieved November 1, 2018 (https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/press-room/statistics-and-facts/).
