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Senior meals
packaging, "we are the first"
Enhanced
Elder Intervention: Mom has moved
beyond eccentric
From the Director
Tom Kelly Awards Finalist:
Interview with Francesca Byrne
Tom Kelly Award
Finalist: Interview with Edna Sunskis
Elder Services' new staff
New Planner at Elder Services - Jeanne B. Siegel
35 years of Williamstown Council on Aging
By Brian O’Grady
With the birth of a new century in 1900, Americans faced challenges somewhat different than we face today. It was a more primitive time with many of the necessities we take for granted either unperfected or unthought of. There were no televisions, mass transit, beer in cans, Chevrolet Monte Carlos or modern technological marvels; smart bombs to crush the enemy, or medicine which as cured disease and extended life. They say it was a better time, a simpler time, where families lived near one another, hung out with, helped and cared for one another. They had what they called, "traditional values." And, there were certainly senior citizens, the grandparents of today’s generation of seniors, often quoted and fondly remembered. Still, there were not as many of them. Life expectancy was not what it is today; only one individual in twenty was over 65 years old.
Times have changed. In eight years the U.S. senior population will be one in seven point five. Roughly every eighth person you see on the street will be over 65. It is a tribute to modern technology. We will live longer, healthier lives. We already have every technological advance, every mechanical device, everything one could want with more on the way. There is a lot for us to enjoy for a longer time.
We no longer have to stay in the home of our birth, we can move far away, and often do, to find decent paying employment. Our children can go to the most expensive colleges and then move themselves away to pursue their dreams. We can have relatives in every state in the country! Oh, and if we do choose to stay in our home towns, we no longer have to share anything, our children can have their own apartments, our parents can live in convenient "senior housing" while we inherit the earth. Space man, we get our own personal spaces.
Just half past the midway point of the century, in 1956, the Massachusetts legislature passed some creative, "Permissive Legislation" which allowed Massachusetts communities to create entities called "Councils on Aging." These Councils on Aging, actual providers of many health and social services, are a kind of cross section of old ways and new technology, where old values such as caring for, and respecting others still exists, while at the same time computers access state of the art information on any topic in the universe. It’s almost as though the people who founded these CoA’s were farsighted enough to recognize that the future senior population totals would be spectacular, that, along with joy, living longer also brings loss in physical function such as sight and hearing, and life; children do leave to find careers, friends and family members pass away and that these COA’s could be places to stay connected with life, find necessary services and support. It’s as though they knew that seniors could call a CoA’s quarters their home away from home, in their own hometowns and that they would be a place where fellowship flourishes while loneliness is banished.
Maybe they didn’t think anything of the sort. It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that they acted and established the CoA’s.
Today there are 348 CoA’s in Massachusetts including the Williamstown Council onAging, where I work as Director. It was established in 1966, and recently celebrated its 35th Anniversary. Governor Jane Swift declared January 15th, 2002, the day of the celebration, to be "Williamstown Council on Aging Day in Massachusetts." It is the first CoA in Massachusetts to be so recognized and we are deeply honored by this recognition. It means a lot.
Happy Anniversary and many happy returns of the day!