Arizona’s elderly population has assets that the state is not taking into account, according to a report released this month.
The report, called “Unlocking Resilience: The Key to Healthy Aging in Arizona,” compiled census data and surveys of Arizonans to show how the state can focus on the positives of aging and how that can help shape public policy, said John Hall, an ASU public affairs professor.
Written in conjunction with ASU’s Resilience Solutions Group and the St. Luke’s Health Initiative, it was released early this month by ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy.
The report shows that the majority of survey-takers viewed aging as having more positives than negatives, with knowledge and wisdom of the elderly being assets that the state has not taken advantage of in its policy-making.
Hall said if those assets are utilized by communities more effectively, then the problems that go along with aging can be mitigated.
Hall is a member of the Resilience Solutions Group, an interdisciplinary team of researchers focused on helping individuals and communities become more resilient.
“There is a tendency in public policy to focus on problems, issues and challenges,” Hall said. “That means there is a focus directly on things that are going wrong, and that leaves out a lot of things that are going right.”
He said issues that we deal with today can be better solved if the positives of aging are taken into account.
“The notion is that if people are given a few resources, ideas, and are allowed to collaborate to come together as a community … then those problems are more likely to be resolved,” he said.
Communities can become more resilient by doing “everything from enhancing mobility and transportation choices to improving social connections and ways in which people can work in an intergenerational way together,” Hall said.
The report was a follow-up to a 2002 report called “Coming of Age” that depicted some of the policy changes that would need to take place after the baby boomer population retired, Hall said.
Roger Hughes, the executive director of the St. Luke’s Health Initiative, said improvements in public policy can be made in the communities and in the workplace.
“We can improve the environment of work by making more flexibility for older workers,” he said, noting that older workers cannot work as much or as often as older employees.
He said the report is based on the current economic times, showing that more long-term planning needs to be taking place to encourage and cultivate a sustainable workforce.
“As people recover, we need to look at how they can sustain themselves in these economic times,” Hall said.
This report is based on more concrete information now that those baby boomers have actually retired, he said.
“It was more of a futuristic perspective,” Hall said. “This new report is an update, but is also much more factual in the reality that many boomers are in the age of retirement. It’s also grounded in the reality of the current economic crisis.”
Morrison Institute associate director Nancy Welch also worked on the report, and said contrary to popular belief, the Arizona population has been younger than the U.S. average.
“It’s surprising to people that our older population is not one of the oldest states in the country,” Welch said. “But we are aging more quickly than some other states.”
According to the U.S. Census bureau, Arizona does have an older population, 13.1 percent, when compared to the national average, 12.9 percent. However, Florida’s average is 17.2 percent, well above that of both Arizona and the national average.
Welch said the elderly population is increasing more quickly than in other states because as people in the tail ends of their careers move here, they also tend to retire here.
The report, through surveys, found that the majority of Arizonans want to “age in place,” meaning they want to stay in one place after they retire rather than move around the country.
In contrast, younger people who may move to Arizona will be far more likely to move again for other career opportunities, she said.
The report also found that Arizonans tend to look to their families for support as they age. Welch said she was surprised by the amount of family support for aging relatives.
“I was really struck by the extent to which Arizonans really expect to care for their family members,” she said. “It surprised me in their depth of feeling. Here, we saw family and friends as being terrifically important.”
Because of this, it is important for the community to have more opportunities for the older population to help families that may be taking care of an elderly relative.
“When times get tough, people rely on internal resources,” Hughes said. “As anyone who has ever cared for an aging parent knows, that’s not always an easy task.”
Reach the reporter at ymgonzal@asu.edu
