Perhaps the single most incontrovertible element we all share is that we are getting older, no matter what our age.
Here on the Vineyard, 1 in 3 Islanders is currently over 60; by 2025, it is estimated that up to 25 percent of adults over 60 will be 85 or older. That’s according to Healthy Aging Martha’s Vineyard (HAMV), an Island organization.
Cindy Trish, executive director of Healthy Aging, says that the older population has a positive impact on the local economy. “Over half of all older adults volunteer, which equates to amore than $30 million contribution to the Island economy each year.”
But aging can also bring uncertainty because the Island’s senior population is aging faster than our current support services, according to Healthy Aging M.V.
“Ninety-seven percent of our older adults want to stay on the Island and age in place,” Trish continues. “In order to do so, we have to have the infrastructure and services. Whether that starts with someone mowing your lawn, all the way to 24-hour care, we have to, as a community, address those needs. For us to lose the contributions of our older adults because we can’t provide those services is a disaster, and not reflective of the values of our year-round residents, many of whom have been here generation after generation.
And addressing those urgent needs is precisely what HAMV is hoping to do on Nov. 14 from noon to 5:30 pm,with its Community Mobilization Summit on Aging, during which we will get to look at what has been accomplished, what can be done … and how everyone — older adults, family members, and community leaders alike — can participate in the solution to this imperative challenge.
At the Summit, you will learn how, over the past 10 years, HAMV and coalition members across the Island have identified gaps and piloted remarkable programs for transportation, digital equity, advanced care planning, home safety, home sharing, and falls prevention. But as the sessions will reveal, progress is not fast enough, and older adults are moving off the Island as healthcare and other services are increasingly hard to come by.
The summit’s four sessions, along with lunch, snacks, and beverages, are all free. The first two sessions are designed with 60-plus adults, family members, and caregivers in mind.
First up is “Your Aging Journey and How to Have Fun with It,” a noontime buffet lunch about the journey to creating your memoir with Nancy Aronie, Chilmark Writing Workshop leader and author of “Memoir of Medicine: The Healing Power of Writing Your Messy, Imperfect, Unruly (but Gorgeously Yours) Life Story.” Trish says, “It will be about tapping into the aging process and reflecting on your life.”
The 2 pm session, “Six Key Priorities for an Age-Friendly Island,” will be a panel of Islanders providing a firsthand account of challenges and solutions of aging on the Island. Presenters who will be discussing the progress and challenges include Trish; Denise Schepici, M.V. Hospital president; Lyndsay Famariss with the Edgartown Council on Aging; Bob Laskowski, physician, former healthcare CEO; Nancy Tutko, TrailsMV; Kate Lefer, MVCS disability services; and Iris Freeman, social worker and educator. The six priorities are to 1) Ensure that we have essential services for older adults, and the workforce necessary to provide them, 2) Expand older adult transportation options, and raise awareness about them, 3) Support digital equity and inclusion for older adults, 4) Develop a database or central clearinghouse of information, 5) Expand opportunities for community engagement, and 6) Address older adult safety and accessibility on the Island.
Key for community leaders and older adults are the third and fourth sessions, starting at 3:30 pm with “Aging Trends on-Island for the Next 10 Years,” during which Adam Turner of the Martha’s Vineyard Commission and Trish will be discussing what the Island will look like over the next decade, the implications for older adults, and some thought starters on how to address these challenges collectively.
For the final session at 4:45 pm, “Policies that Could Impact Aging on M.V. and What We Can Do,” Michael Festa, state director with AARP Massachusetts, will be looking at how our lives will be different based on what is going on at the state level.
Trish says about the summit, “If you want to walk away with an up-to-date understanding of what’s available on the Island, what the challenges are, what some of the solutions could be, then this summit shouldn’t be missed.
“We are here, and we’re going to continue doing remarkable things, but it takes a village … or an Island,” Trish said.
Register at hamv.org/10-year-celebration.
