Age-friendly survey goes to Western Mass. communities

Date: 2/2/2022

WESTERN MASS. – Is it easy for seniors to live in your town?

A new survey by the Age-Friendly Communities (AFC) program is asking that question in dozens of area communities. The regional effort, aided by many local councils on aging, is a response to the increasing need for elder services.

“Our communities are looking very differently than they used to 50, even 40 years ago, in terms of the portion of the population that is older adults,” said Nour Elkhattaby Strauch, manager of the Age-Friendly Program at LifePath. “We began work in 2020, talking to people, trying to do education around age-friendly work.”

The AFC program launched the survey this month. The nine-page questionnaire seeks information on the livability of each locale, which depends on access to services, transportation, participation in town government, the availability of housing, and safety. The effort will be carried out with the help of many local councils on aging. Those agencies will distribute the survey through town websites and newsletters, and by mail to those without an internet connection.

JoAnn Bernhard, co-chair of the Shutesbury Council on Aging, knows what the elders in her small town will talk about.

“We have a Town Hall, a library and a church. There’s no public transportation. There’s no place to go and hang out ... The library is the size of my living room,” Bernhard said. “Everything bumps up against the lack of money.”

LifePath, a Greenfield organization, secured funding for the program and may help cash-strapped communities with program costs. There is no fee for towns to participate. A municipality enrolls by submitting an application and a letter of commitment from elected leaders. Currently the regional effort is entering the second phase, information gathering, which paves the way for action planning and the fourth stage of the process, implementation.

“The focus is not superimposed by people who run age-friendly community groups,” Strauch said. “That’s why it’s important to do the needs assessment at the beginning. We’re asking the people who live here themselves, what are the main issues?”

Local residents involved in drawing up the survey questions, according to Strauch, demanded a local focus. The American Association of Retired Persons, the agency directing the AFC program nationwide, provides a generic survey to communities, but it did not satisfy local elders. A list of questions was generated that directly reflects the problems of communities in the Connecticut River Valley. The program also offers a framework for age-friendly work, the eight domains of livability, to organize community efforts. Strauch acknowledged, however, that a number of concerns are well understood.

“There’s definitely food insecurity in some of our towns,” Strauch said, “but we know the problem is two-fold. It’s access to food, but also good food, organic food. Getting healthy food, vegetables, going to farmers markets, is really expensive.”

Transportation for trips to farmers markets, doctors offices and grocery stores is also an ongoing challenge.

“We already know from conversations with people in the region that, chief among [their concerns] is transportation,” Strauch said. “Transportation is really hard for folks who cannot drive themselves [and] there’s a lot of issues since the pandemic started with social isolation, maintaining independence.” Seniors living alone may be forced into difficult choices. “People look for a new situation when they really want to age in place.”

Bernhard confirmed there are few places for seniors to move to. She lauded the efforts of Strauch’s program and LifePath, which she called a “wonderful organization.”

“What they’re looking for is to get some grant money to address some of these issues, the transportation issue for example,” Bernhard said. “They’ll try to formulate something when they get the data.”

Data gathering, planning and implementation will be a three- to five-year process. Currently, 20 towns in the area will participate in the Age-Friendly Communities program. The survey will be available to seniors until May 11.