By Anne W. Semmes
Life expectancy is reported today to be age 79, but in Greenwich there are reportedly more individuals living to the age of 100. “We are seeing right here in the Senior Center more and more people embracing their hundredth birthday,” says Lori Contadino, director of the Commission on Aging. She tells, “We had an event just last week, where at one table, we had two 100-year-olds and a 101-year-old. And their sense of vibrancy and vitality is just amazing.”
So, yes longevity has increased, but Contadino questions, “Has good health increased at the same rate? And what are those important issues needing to be addressed by our aging population? To that end Lori Contadino is partnering with Steve Katz, who chairs the Commission on Aging Board, to address in an educational seminar, “The Changing Longevity Landscape: Vibrant Living and Purposeful Aging in the town of Greenwich” to be held next Friday morning, October 27 at the Greenwich Water Club at 9 a.m.
“We live in an incredibly vibrant community in Greenwich with demographics that indicate an aging population,” confirms Marcia O’Kane, president and CEO of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, that is also partnering the Seminar. “We all hope to age with purpose and to live our best lives as we get older, and this seminar will provide action items and tips to help us.”
That Chamber/Commission partnership played a supporting role in Greenwich becoming the first community certified in Connecticut as Age-Friendly and Dementia Friendly by AARP, the World Health Organization, and Dementia Friendly America.
Steve Katz, with all his numerous degrees – and he also heads up Sterling Care – had chaired that initiative for Greenwich to be so certified. He cites the advances in science, public health, and economic development that have given us the gift of longevity. And yes, many more are living into their 80s and 90s, but “We all must consider and address whether to squander this gift or use it to its utmost potential. Models for successfully aging in place and within our community incorporate proactive actions that individuals take to adapt to age-related changes and stressors to optimize their health and well-being.”
At the Educational Seminar where both Contadino and Katz will be presenters, Katz noted, “We will discuss items to include in a proactive plan to age in place successfully and ways for you to age well in the Town of Greenwich. It is never too early, nor too late, to embark on an action plan to ensure that we do so with grace, success, and joy as we age.”
Contadino also shares some of the subjects the Seminar will address. “When we look at the eight critical domains that we focus all of our work and attention, they include transportation, housing, access to outdoor spaces and buildings, civic engagement, opportunities for social participation, health services, and access to health services. So, we touch upon all of those elements.”
“So how we focus on those things that we have control on,” she adds, “really is the important piece and the takeaway for each of us as individuals. How do we maximize that sense of meaning in lives and how do we retain that, especially as peer groups diminish…Reinventing ourselves is very difficult, but that meaning and purpose and that sense of vibrancy is really what’s important. And to change the face of age and what does it mean to age in town is probably very different than it meant to people a full generation ago. And so that’s some of what we want to bring forward.”
To register for the Educational Seminar, held on Friday, October 27 at 9 a.m. at the Greenwich Water Club in Cos Cob, with Greenwich Chamber fees of $25 for members and $30 for non-members, call the Chamber at 203-869-3500 or visit greenwichchamber@greenwichchamber.com
