Reframing aging in Washington County

By Diana Page Jordan

SHERWOOD, Ore. — We are in transition, local experts say, when it comes to people over the age of 60. That is especially the case now that Boomers are dominating that category — and that shift in our culture also shows up in the words we use. 

Rebecca Miller, who is both the manager for disability, aging, and veteran services, and the area agency on aging director for Washington County, said “’Older Adults’ is the term. That’s what we use. We also use ‘Elders’. The term ‘Seniors’ is fading away.”

Miller said as our demographics shift, nationally and locally, we have a new wave of elders and older adults coming in to seek services.

“They don’t see themselves the same way," Miller said. "They’re asking for different kinds of activities. They want more community.”

That sense of community also shows up in Sherwood at the Marjorie Stewart Senior Community Center, where Center Manager Maiya Martin Burbank said, “We have 60% ladies and 40% dudes. I've been doing this a long time, and this is the highest ratio of men to women that I've seen — and the men are as engaged as often as the women. They're in social groups. They are participating. They're going on field trips.”

Martin Burbank said the Marjorie Stewart center is holistic, and they approach five different styles of healthy aging there.

“That includes a nutrition program. We have exercise classes. We have educational classes," Martin Burbank said. "We have social groups, support groups, and we have a mental health center on site, so we can help with depression management, isolation, and loneliness counseling.”

They also have a popular course called “Mind Over Matter,” which eases incontinence. She said, “Yes, we work with depression, but also let's work at the physical level to help with that confidence and solve that problem.” 

A social worker on site helps connect people to housing, transportation, medical appointments, anything, Martin Burbank said, that comes up in the more technical side of the world.  They even have our own shuttle there. 

“We help people find volunteer positions, help them apply for jobs if they want to. We have painting groups, craft classes, and language groups," she said. "We have a French group and a Spanish group and an Arabic group. So, we have a lot of different ways to cater to people's needs as a whole person.”

The center holds 150 events every month that includes daily lunches. 

Washington County’s Disability, Aging, and Veteran Services (DAV) also focuses on providing services for nearly 600 family caregivers of older adults. Last year, DAV and their contracted partners provided Older Americans Act services to 4,725 individuals and 14,000 phone and in-person calls and visits. Thousands of meals are provided, too.

 Miller said, “We do a lot of work to combat ageism and ableism. Older adults are definitely othered. We see it in the language; we see it in the media.”

Miller encourages older adults and their caretakers to call for assistance in navigating resources at (503) 846-3060.

“There is a permanent demographic shift that is happening, that we’re in the middle of, that will change us," Miller said. "We are an older, more disabled community. We’re living longer with chronic conditions. including issues from poverty to houselessness.”  

More boomers are entering into older adult services now. Miller said that has led to funding challenges, because per capita funding decreased by 3%. 

Martin Burbank pointed out that baby boomers don't want to be known as seniors.

“They don't want to be known as aged, because they don't identify with that media portrayal," she said. “That's why we use the term older adults, because it's all encompassing. People know what we're talking about when we use that term. It's a more broad spectrum and there isn’t a lot of baggage on it, whereas there's the baggage of senior, of elder, elderly, and aged, and all those other ones.”

Boomers are more tech savvy, she said. They’re more active. They’re working longer than previous generations, by choice or by need.

Martin Burbank has a degree in Cultural Anthropology, so creating a culture where everybody feels seen and heard and accepted is a huge deal to her.

Martin Burbank said the period after retirement is a really high time for stress and depression in people's lives, because it is a process of self-identification and reprioritizing how you spend your time.

"Anytime we can engage with people who are fresh into retirement and help them through that period is awesome," she said. “I talk to people about what they like, what they used to do, what they would like to try, what they'd like to see themselves doing. And then we identify things that they can do.”

Martin Burbank said she would love to see senior centers really engage in the breakdown of ageism and engage in accepting people as they are in the aging process.

"I know we're part of it, but let’s really shout it from the rooftops that people age and it's a celebration to age," Martin Burbank said.