Census shows senior boom in Central Virginia

It’s Wednesday morning and Lois Fulks, 84  is quietly pedaling a stationary bike, her tiny gold earrings swinging.

After therapy she will take Centra PACE’s “Get Up & Go” exercise class, where seniors dance and pump their arms and legs to the sound of the music.

If not for PACE — and her daughter’s insistence that she come — Fulks said she probably would be at home watching television.

She’s happier at PACE, a comprehensive care center where seniors have unfettered access to medical advice, a physician, social workers, pharmacists, chaplains, home care nurses and physical therapy. PACE’s goal is to keep people fit and healthy so they can remain in their homes as long as possible.

 “I don’t like being by myself; when I was at home I was by myself,” said Fulks. “I’d rather be here with friends and making friends.”

Experts say programs like PACE help fill a need that is growing in step with the area’s rapidly increasing number of senior citizens.

Recently released 2010 census numbers show that Virginia’s elderly population, those age 65 and above, has increased by 23 percent since 2000.

Locally, the numbers are higher.

Bedford County alone saw a 44 percent increase in its elderly population, while Appomattox County saw a 29 percent increase, Campbell County experienced a 26 percent jump and Amherst County, a 21 percent increase.

Lynchburg was the only locality in this area to see a decrease in seniors, from 10,645 in 2000 to 10,556 in 2010.

The increase is just the beginning of a decades-long shift that will lead to a population where those over age 65 outnumber those under age 15, said Betsy Head, a member of the board of directors of the Older Dominion Partnership.

The partnership, a consortium created to help localities prepare for the senior boom, predicts that by 2030 the number of seniors in the Commonwealth will double.

“We are definitely not ready,” said Denise Scruggs, director of the Beard Center on Aging, an education and information center for all things aging related, based at Lynchburg College.

Scruggs and other locals in the field of senior care say this region needs more transportation, more geriatric specialists, more nursing home beds and most of all, more funding for the agencies that serve seniors, such as the Central Virginia Area Agency on Aging.

CVAAA serves more than 4,000 low-income clients these days, but still has several hundred on its waiting lists.

“We just try to stay above it as best we can,” said Brenda Lipscomb, acting executive director of CVAAA.

“All of the jurisdictions give us some money, but it’s just not enough,” said Lipscomb, whose agency serves Amherst, Appomattox, Bedford and Campbell counties and Lynchburg and Bedford cities.

Just getting level funding this year, she said, made her feel lucky.

The importance of senior programs can’t be emphasized enough, according to the agency. It is often programs such as meal deliveries or homemaker services where the early-warning signs of problems — such as poor nutrition and deterioration of mental and physical health — come to light and can be addressed.

Vast numbers of seniors no longer have families to care for them or live in neighborhoods where they are checked on.

These programs provide that regular check-in and socializing, helping lessen the medical costs that come when illnesses are found too late.

  “This is the most predictable crisis our country will ever face and our country is in denial,” said Betsy Head, who co-owns two Home Instead Senior Care franchises in the region with her husband Chris. “People don’t see how it impacts them and they don’t see the real-world effects.”

One example of that impact is in the morning commute. Seniors are more likely than younger drivers to have multi-vehicle car crashes and as the number of drivers 65 and older in Virginia climbs from one in every seven now to one in every four drivers by 2030, the risk for accidents also will increase.

The Older Dominion Partnership reports that by 2030, those age 65 and above will be responsible for 25 percent of all fatal crashes.

Scruggs said families could become part of a cycle wherein a generation of adults spend their life savings to care for their parents, have nothing left for their retirement, and must rely on their children to care for them.

“If we don’t do something now, I think we are going to see a lot of older adults in poverty,” said Scruggs.

Locals say the government won’t be able to meet the needs of seniors and communities are going to have to find resources at home.

Tulane Patterson, owner of Generation Solutions, said this population shift requires the involvement of the entire community — from the homebuilders who can make homes handicapped accessible to the hospitals that can provide geriatric specialists — in order to enhance the lives of our seniors.

“The key to this whole problem,” said Patterson, “is helping our seniors stay at home.”

Although senior services slowly have begun to change, said Patterson, “it’s mostly been left to the private sector.”

He points to Centra’s PACE program and Meals on Wheels as examples of positive programs. Meals on Wheels Inc. of the Greater Lynchburg Area began delivering meals to seniors’ homes in the mid ’70s, while PACE opened in 2009. Both help keep seniors healthy so they can remain in their homes.

Scruggs gives kudos to the Bedford area, which has Bedford Rides, a non-profit door-to-door transportation system specifically for seniors; two nursing homes and adult day care, and has created the Bedford Community Health Foundation.

“They’re a little bit further ahead than most communities,” said Scruggs.  “They’re just very much in the forefront.”

Bedford County’s latest fiscal budget not only dedicates $33,080 to CVAAA but also has a line item of $50,000 for Bedford Rides, which is part of CVAAA.

In Lynchburg right now Centra’s Virginia Baptist Hospital is building a 12-bed geriatric psychiatric unit, in what was once the pediatric unit, under the guidance of Dr. Peter Betz, geriatric psychiatrist and Centra’s Medical Director of Geriatric Psychiatry.

“It’s a significant capital investment,” said Brent McCraw, director of Centra’s Acute Psychiatric Services. 

About 10 years ago the hospital began looking at how it could better care for the mental health issues unique to seniors, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia. The new geriatric wing will do just that and is expected to open in the fall.

The unit will become the base for a comprehensive wrap-around service that can focus on seniors’ immediate mental health needs as well as train those who work with seniors, provide outreach and eventually, possibly, prevent hospitalizations, he said.

“It’s very difficult to predict what the demand will be but we certainly know there is a high concentration of seniors in the Lynchburg area,” said McCraw. “We feel like there’s some strong need.”

Amherst’s Sabra Rice said there is a need for more senior services.

She joined PACE when it opened in 2009, and at age 96, is still attending.

Localities “should invest in programs like this because it’s good for us,” said Rice during a BBQ lunch. “I know it’s good for me because I’m 96 and I’m still getting around.”

Keeping seniors like Sabra Rice healthy has a big benefit for the communities, too, the experts say. The increase in seniors is actually good for those localities that are able to take advantage of their skills, smarts and experiences.

An area task force is already working to increase the region’s older workforce.

“We can actually benefit from the age wave if we tap into this group,” said Head, of the Older Dominion Partnership.