PIlot program would assist the elderly in Albany, southwest Georgia region

CAMILLA — Macon-Bibb County owns the distinction of being the first AARP-approved age-friendly community, but southwest Georgia could earn another first with the program by becoming the first region to attain that status.

On Thursday the board of the Southwest Georgia Regional Commission approved a resolution stating its intent to approve AARP’s proposal. The board submitted an application the following day. It is seeking letters of intent from area governments in support of the project.

Earlier this month Angell made a presentation to the Dougherty County Commission and also has made a pitch to some of the other 13 counties and 43 municipalities in its 14-county service region.

There are a number of cities in the state that have age-friendly community status, but the regional pilot program proposed would be the first in the country.

The good news for cash-strapped governments is that there is no additional cost associated with the program, Suzanne Angell, executive director of the Camilla-based agency, said during a Monday telephone interview.

Every five years cities and counties update their comprehensive plans for the Georgia Department of Community Affairs, a process facilitated by the regional commission. Those plans traditionally include items such as housing and infrastructure improvements that would support the age-friendly and safe communities program, Angell said.

“Basically we’re asking them to include these elements in our comprehensive plan,” she said. “It’s for the communities to have features that allow the elderly to age in place, to have affordable housing, to have transportation.”

In many instances, those elements are included in projects in which local governments already are participating, such as installing sidewalks that makes it safer for the disabled to walk in their neighborhoods.

“That can be almost anything,” Angell said. “That can be (like) Bainbridge in Decatur County just put in an ADA (Americans With Disabilities Act-compliant) ramp that goes from downtown to the river area,” Angell said. “There are so many things communities are doing now in making their communities age-friendly.

“It’s really not anything extra they have to do, just saying they support this concept of an age-friendly community and supporting projects that assist an age-friendly community. These are things that might already be in their comprehensive plans.”

Keeping the elderly in their homes benefits both those residents, who get to continue living in their communities instead of perhaps moving out of the area, but also helps maintain that anchor of civic life and taxpayers in the neighborhoods where they are living.

Some of the elements included in the program, such as transportation, benefit everyone in a community, she said. The regional commission operates a rural transportation network in its region that is available to everyone that shuttles residents for such needs as doctor’s appointments and trips to the pharmacy or for shopping and other purposes.

According to the AARP, 13.5 percent of Georgians are 65 or older, a figure that is 10 percent in southwest Georgia. By 2030 one in five Americans will be 65 or older, and three years later that elderly population will outnumber the group of those ages 18 and under.

Some of the other elements for an age-friendly community identified by the organization are outdoor space and buildings, social and civic participation, employment, community support and health services and communications and information services.

Angell and her team decided to make the pitch after attending a presentation at a statewide meeting, and in February brought the idea to the attention of its board members.

It’s coverage area is Region 10, which stretches from Decatur and Seminole counties to the south, to Early County, Colquitt County to the east and Lee and Terrell counties to the north. “We just thought it was a good idea that we support this project,” Angell said. “They (AARP) provide all kinds of technical support and there are also funding opportunities, grant opportunities.”

Staff Photo: Alan MauldinAlanMauldin[email protected]
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