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Boomers Shift Another Culture
By Kevin Simpson, Denver Post
October 15, 2004
Clydie Banks, 70, is raising great-grandsons, Chauncey, right, and Dante. Banks takes her caregiving responsibilities in stride and savors her quality of life. Seniors in a state study painted a mostly encouraging picture of their golden years.
Feast your bifocals on this, aging baby boomers: Less turkey and mashed potatoes, more Thai and Mexican. Less bingo, more blackjack.
Those could be among the changes in traditional senior services to result from a study announced today on the strengths and needs of Colorado's aging population.
"As baby boomers are getting older, they present a very different culture than the current culture of older adults," says Jeanette Hensley, director of aging and adult services for the Colorado Department of Human Services. "They don't want the same things their parents had - they want a variety of things."
The study looked at the Denver area as well as geographical regions throughout the state, produced more than 700 pages of findings and largely confirmed conventional wisdom - particularly with regard to the expected wave of boomers.
The number of adults reaching age 60 in metro Denver is expected to nearly double by 2020 to more than 575,000.
Statewide service providers will use the combination of census data, statistical projections, expert interviews and survey results from 8,903 older Coloradans to assess current needs and plan how to serve a generation that carries a whole new set of expectations.
Boomers will expect choices, Hensley says, to attract them to services at senior centers. A generation that was more active than its parents may prefer exercise classes and casino junkets to the time-honored tradition of bingo.
"And we have to figure out how to make meals more exciting," she says. "We grew up on spicier food, the hot wings we all love. So we have to start shifting food so the nutritional content is there, but also the flavor and spices we need.
"We have to learn how to balance, to reach out to the young- old and at the same time serve the old-old."
Study results will filter down through service providers and government agencies to others, such as homebuilders and city planners, who may choose to reflect the needs of older adults in more single-story floor plans, accessible amenities and large- letter traffic signs.
Although the study raised questions about how well existing services would be able to handle the influx of baby boomers, it also included nuggets of good news.
Seniors painted a mostly encouraging picture of their golden years, with 88 percent of Denver-area respondents and 89 percent statewide rating their quality of life as either "good" or "very good."
Asked to score their quality of life on a scale of 100, metro seniors reported an average score of 82 - ranging from a high of 89 in Douglas County to a low of 79 in Adams County. But throughout the state, the study showed a drop in average quality-of-life ratings for Hispanics and non-whites as well as those who reported lower incomes, less education and physically limiting conditions.
The findings also zeroed in on people such as Clydie Banks, a 70-year-old who keeps a spotless house in Denver, mows her own yard - and raises two great-grandsons, ages 5 and 10.
In the 2000 census, more than 36,000 grandparents reported caring for their grandchildren. And those seniors remain a target group for some service providers.
But Banks, who receives occasional food donations, takes her caregiving responsibilities in stride and savors her quality of life.
"I'd give me an 85 or 90, really," says Banks. "I'm not hungry. The rent's paid and the utilities. The boys are dressed pretty good. If I can maintain my health, I'll be all right."
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