Coming of age

Saturday, Jan. 13, 2001 | 10:34 a.m.

If you've noticed you have a few gray hairs lately, you have a lot of company in Southern Nevada.

The area's population boom has gotten a lot of media attention, but what has received less notice is that a big part of that boom is coming from older folks.

Some are people who moved to Southern Nevada to work in the 1970s, '80s and '90s. Others are retirees who have moved to the region because of its climate, relatively low housing costs and proximity to family in Nevada or California.

Although the general population has grown quickly -- 2 million statewide, up from 1.2 million a decade ago -- the number of older people has grown even more rapidly.

This year the state demographer expects to have more than 230,000 people 65 or older in the state, about 10.5 percent of the population. That's up from 127,000 in 1990.

By 2010 the number of older folks is expected to grow to more than 322,000, about 12 percent of the total state population.

In Clark County, the numbers show a similar increase, the demographer's office estimates. In 1990 there were about 76,000 seniors in the county, just under 10 percent of the population.

This year there should be about 159,000 seniors countywide, making up almost 11 percent of the population.

Among the oldest of the old, the numbers are growing even faster. In 1990 there were about 11,000 people over 80 in the county. By July the demographer's office projects there will be almost 30,000 seniors over 80.

The local trend mirrors the national scene. Thanks to advances in medicine and the aging of members of the baby boom generation, there are a lot more older people everywhere. Within the next 20 years, the aging of the population, already an issue, will radically alter the nature of society, many demographers and social scientists predict.

Nevada and the Las Vegas area are slightly ahead of the national trend. Because of that, the region stands as a bellwether for the issues that social scientists expect will affect local, state and national politics and society.

"The impact can be huge," said Claudia Collins, associate professor of UNR's Cooperative Extension. Collins, who works in Las Vegas, studies the local older population. "Everything in the community will be affected in one way or another.

"What's going to happen nationwide is probably going to happen sooner here," she predicted. "Las Vegas is going to be a laboratory on how baby boomers retire.

"There are as many people here over 55 as there are under 18," Collins said. "That's a real tilt."

More than a quarter of everyone moving to Southern Nevada say their primary reason is to retire, she points out. In terms of public policy, the weight of senior citizens is even greater because they vote in greater numbers, Collins said.

The senior vote can have a disproportionate effect on issues, such as the upcoming referendum to approve an $80 million bond issue to build a children's hospital in Clark County, she said.

To win the votes from seniors, the issue will have to be presented in such a way that it makes sense for their community, perhaps by talking about how the demand for pediatric services affects the entire medical community, she said.

Policymakers are also responding to the growth of the older population.

Already a host of state, local and law enforcement agencies and nonprofit organizations, colleges and universities are struggling to cope with the growth of the older sector of the population.

The city of Las Vegas operates five centers offering services for seniors, and will open two or three more in the next five years, said Sydell Mackay, supervisor of the city's Senior Citizen Programs Division.

Mackay said the city's effort, combined with centers operated in Henderson, North Las Vegas and Clark County, means that most seniors have a center relatively close that offers nutritional, physical and social support.

"I think we're meeting the need," she said. "Can we do better? I think we can."

The effort now is to reach seniors who might not use the centers, and to locate more centers in neighborhoods throughout the city, she said.

Same issues

Carla Sloan, director of Nevada's AARP -- formerly the American Association of Retired Persons -- said the local issues are the same ones facing seniors in other urban areas.

Transportation, quality of life and recreational opportunities and especially "the entire continuum of health care," which involves everything from a trip to the doctor for a checkup to permanent care in a nursing home, are the issues affecting seniors, Sloan said.

And because seniors are making up a bigger part of the overall population, their issues are everyone's issues.

Finding funds to handle the needs of seniors is a continuing struggle, Sloan said. "There's never going to be enough money to meet all the needs," she said.

The Governor's Commission on Aging, which met Tuesday at UNLV, also discussed the need for funds. Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams, a member of the aging commission, stressed that it's important to find funds -- and the political will -- to provide diagnosis and treatment for people with Alzheimer's disease in the context of providing better mental services statewide.

Alzheimer's is a progressive neurological disease that gradually robs its victims of memory and the ability to think. Alzheimer's and other cognitive impairments that tend to strike older people are, for some, the most dreaded diseases of old age.

Dr. Charles Bernick, a neurologist and associate professor at the University of Nevada School of Medicine, said that as people in general are living longer, the incidence of Alzheimer's and similar diseases becomes more obvious.

At one time people in their 60s were considered old. Now, "we're shifting the curve to the octogenarians," Bernick said.

He has some good news for those who fear Alzheimer's and other diseases: Medical research is moving to prevent their onset. But for now Bernick and others who treat victims are extremely busy.

Other concerns may not sound as serious, but play a big part in quality of life. For example, transportation is a continuing problem for many older people, Sloan said.

"Some older people just aren't confident of driving," she said, or they may never have learned to drive at all. But a senior may not qualify for the disabled certification that the Regional Transportation Commission requires before allowing that person to use the curb-to-curb paratransit bus services.

Some older people are so frail or slow that even making it to a regular bus stop can be dangerous, "but that would not mean they had a certified disability," Sloan said.

Volunteer groups try to fill the need, but more funding is needed, she said.

Preventing abuse

Even law enforcement has a role to play. Sandie Durgin, supervisor of the abuse-and-neglect detail for Metro Police, said her agency is increasingly busy with cases and allegations of exploitation and abuse of seniors.

While nursing home abuses often generate media attention, her detail is usually called upon to investigate cases that involve the family or friends of older people.

The cases and allegations might involve physical abuse, but often they are about the theft or conning of older folks' sometimes meager financial resources. The number of cases of both kinds is growing, Durgin said.

"Nobody in this community has a clue how many there are," she said. "It's just overwhelming."

Last month the department investigated at least 17 cases of financial exploitation of older people, Durgin said. In 1981, when her detail was charged with investigating crimes against older people, it would receive one or two cases a month.

And for crimes of abuse, neglect or exploitation against older people overall, the department has to check about 300 cases a month, she said. Her five-person staff scrambles to keep up with the caseload.

Even so, Durgin said one of law enforcement's priorities is to discover the cases that now go unreported.

"There's a whole helluva lot of cases out there that we don't know about," Durgin said.

Durgin and her staff also keep an eye out for seniors who are socially isolated, a factor that can increase the likelihood that they will be exploited or abused.

Indeed, those who study aging issues say social isolation may be the biggest factor affecting both quality of life and longevity. Falling victim to that isolation will lead to physical and mental inactivity and diminished abilities in both realms.

An older view

Those who lived through most of the 20th century agree. Helen Reider, 85, volunteers at the Las Vegas Senior Center north of downtown.

Although she has lost most of her eyesight and can no longer play in the center's Hawaiian Ukulele Symphony, she continues to volunteer "to stay mentally and physically active."

As she counts those who come in the front door and says hello to her friends, it's clear that Reider also enjoys the companionship that the volunteer position offers.

Reider, who has lived in Las Vegas more than two decades, gets assistance from other government programs. The Nevada Services for the Blind, a state agency, helps out with audio books to keep her intellectually stimulated.

And she gets important assistance from the RTC's paratransit bus service.

"Without them I'd be a shut-in," she said.

Bruce McAnnany, deputy administrator with the Nevada Division for Aging Services, said many older residents such as Reider need help finding the particular government agency or nonprofit group that can provide help.

His office is working to provide a "single point-of-entry" service so that older people can find what they need.

"We have a mission to serve all of the seniors in the state of Nevada," he said -- and those needs can be diverse.

He worries that even with the office, people are not getting the medical, mental and social support that they need. Some older folks just don't like asking for help, McAnnany said. Others don't know where to turn despite the outreach efforts.

For too many seniors, life can be a struggle against physical problems, social isolation and a society that often overlooks their very existence, McAnnany said.

Growing pains

Seniors agree that getting old isn't easy.

"It's damned hard," said Mary DelVecchio, a 12-year resident of Las Vegas who moved here from Minnesota. Like many other transplants, DelVecchio moved to Southern Nevada after visiting several times with her husband over the winter holidays.

Her husband suffered a stroke during one such holiday, and the family feared moving him; DelVecchio has been a resident ever since.

DelVecchio, 79, said she is lucky: She has sons and a daughter here. She also has an in-house advocate who knows a little about her needs. DelVecchio's daughter, Ann McDonough, is director of gerontology at UNLV.

As she sat last week passing out information at a UNLV program that focused on the health needs of the older population, DelVecchio said she tries to think of the aging process in philosophical, even spiritual, terms.

"Every stage in life has it's growing pains," she said. For older people, the difficulty is that death is a coming reality, she said.

"You've got to prepare for the ultimate experience of dying," DelVecchio said. "We're not comfortable taking about that in our society."

archive