Salt Lake City officials launched an initiative called “Aging in Place” Friday on an Avenues Pickleball Court. Mayor Ralph Becker also announced the city’s application to join the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. Allen Ormsby is the director of AARP Utah. He says people know that Utah has the youngest population in the country.
“But according to the Division of Aging and Adult Services, we also have the sixth fastest aging population. So we have a lot of work to do,” says Ormsby.
Keith Diaz-Moore is the Dean of the University of Utah College of Architecture + Planning. He says his department will be heavy involved in the WHO application. And that all future design and construction should be around access.
“So certainly whether it’s the curb cuts, making sure the sidewalks are maintained, making sure that there are sidewalks where they needed to be. That is a significant limitation to independence,” says Diaz-Moore.
Mayor Becker reminisced about his mother, Ann Watters Becker, who passed away last month at age 93.
“She was so determined to be independent," Becker says. "And we all recognize how hard that is as someone loses more and more of their faculties; physical and mental, and this initiative is going to go a long ways.”
Becker says the city is committed to making a community livable for all. He says the new website aginginslc.com has been built as a one-stop resource for mature residents.