Local public policy should consider the cost of aging to our community, and prepare to support older citizens.
Most senior citizens, when asked where they would like to live, express a strong desire to remain independent in their own home for as long as possible. Seniors stay healthier if they can continue their usual routine, function in a familiar environment, and sustain local social contacts.
The transition from independence to dependence has changed over the decades. Families used to take responsibility for aging parents. Today children often live a distance away, are usually employed full-time, and have little spare energy to assume responsibility for their parents.
Public policy should do as much as possible to keep seniors healthy and independent in their own homes. It is imperative to make this possible by investing in local services such as home care, subsidized transportation, energy efficiency and other home improvements, meals on wheels, community socialization, and security services.
In the long run, the earlier we invest money in such benefits for seniors, the more we will eventually save. For this reason I strongly support the re-establishment of funding by the Franklin County commissioners of area nonprofit organizations.
The county budget committee has recently recommended such a move to the commissioners. The commissioners now need to accept the recommendation, allocate the funds, and sign the checks.
John Rosenwald, Farmington
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