Auntie Diluviana: Taking care of seniors

Dear Auntie, I hear that Hyattsville Aging in Place (HAP) wants the city to include a full-time senior services coordinator in its next budget. Why does Hyattsville need such a position? Doesn’t HAP take care of old people? Puzzled on Powhatan   Auntie Diluviana Dear Puzzled, Emily Stowers, who has served the city well as a senior services coordinator for two years, left her post earlier this year to move to Florida. Emily did a great job but was limited in what she could do because she was only a part-time worker. HAP believes that a full-time senior services coordinator can lead Hyattsville into the new day, now bearing down on us, when an aging populations chooses to stay longer in their homes rather than moving to retirement communities.  The baby boomers started turning 65 last year and are ushering in what Governing magazine calls “a seismic demographic shift unlike anything in [America’s] history.” The effect will be felt not only in federal entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, but also by local governments. (You can read the magazine’s series on aging in America online An aging population needs certain services. HAP wants the senior services coordinator to [...]