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Senior Commission Provides a Few Facts

The Senior Services Commission presented its first fact sheet to the Board of Selectmen last week. Chair Maureen Lopes said it will be the first of many-perhaps as many as one a month-intended to help the town and its boards, commissions, and residents to include seniors and their needs in any meaningful conversations.

"In October the commission began a data-driven review, gathering information from different data sources in our role as the only commission in town that looks across all areas with a view toward what happens to seniors," Lopes said. "We believe all Madison residents age 65 and over should live healthy and productive lives in supportive settings of their own choosing."

The commission's first fact sheet talks numbers. Based on the 2010 U.S. census, seniors-defined as aged 65 and older-account for 25 percent of Madison's population. By the year 2020, estimates from the University of Connecticut Data Center predict the town's senior population will grow to 33 percent. In numbers, those aged 65 and older are projected to grow from 3,318 in 2010 to 4,442 in 2020.

"When we expand the range to include adults age 55 and older, the projected number grows from 6,079 to 8,052. In the same time period, the number of adults older than age 75 increases from 1,578 in 2010 to a projected 2,067 in 2020," according to the commission's fact sheet.

The Baby Boom generation is here-that jump in the age 65 and older population that has been changing the country's dynamics and demographics since the end of World War II. Madison's population will reflect that, just as Connecticut's population will.

"We are building a factual base here. Our focus, as I have said, is to be data driven. We know that no budget can include all senior needs, but we do need to start incorporating these facts and figures into our town's planning," Lopes said.

She said the data is necessary for a better, in-depth understanding of seniors and needs, rather than stories about individual seniors and their circumstances.

Over the course of the next year, she said, the commission will use data from the 2010 census, the American Community Survey, and other sources to identify key indicators for understanding the social, economic, and health status of Madison seniors, how Madison is doing currently in achieving quality of life for seniors, and "who our partners are in tis important work."