The National Research Center’s 2018 Community Assessment Survey of Older Adults was recently released, providing detailed responses that inform us about the needs and strengths of our Colorado elders. Key players like local government bodies, nonprofits, private entities and others will use the CASOA data to better target services for older community members.
NextFifty grant
The Colorado nonprofit NextFifty Initiative provided a grant to fund the CASOA. In a previous post, we described in detail the mission of NFI — to fund initiatives to “promote healthier, happier lives” for older Coloradans. Our principal attorney Marco Chayet, who has dedicated his career to the practice of elder law and the protection of vulnerable people, serves on the NextFifty Board of Trustees.
Elder needs
According to the survey report, the areas of least need as reported by seniors surveyed are “safety and caregiver burden.” While less frequent, these problems, “however rare, can have a particularly devastating impact on residents’ quality of life …” For example, consider these 2018 estimates of Colorado elder needs:
- Safety: 20 percent of respondents or 227,055 older people
- Caregiver burden: 12 percent of respondents or 140,985 older people
- Financial and legal: 42 percent of respondents or 483,476 older people
- Mental health: 41 percent of respondents or 685,505 older people
- Physical health: 59 percent of respondents or 685,505 older people
- Health care: 43 percent of respondents or 490,394 older people
- Institutionalization risk: 29 percent of respondents or 330,361 older people
- Basic necessities: 30 percent of respondents or 343,082 older people
Our law firm will continue to support efforts like the CASOA survey and the contributions of the NextFifty Initiative to the wellbeing of Colorado elders.
(The link in the first paragraph is to an article in the Longmont Observer from which you can access the reports for all 16 Area Agencies on Aging or AAA regions. Colorado AAAs assess the needs of local aging communities and plan and deliver appropriate services accordingly.)