The Larimer County Office on Aging released their Community Assessment Survey for Older Adults (CASOA) report last month. The report is updated every four years and provides a statistically valid survey of the strengths and needs of older adults as reported by older adults in Larimer County.
A total of 847 completed surveys was obtained, providing an overall response rate of 30%. The report was completed by National Research Center (NCR) in Boulder with funding provided by Next Fifty Initiative in Denver, a non-profit organization dedicated to funding mission-driven initiatives that improve community services for the elderly population and caregivers in Colorado.
The county report shows survey responses by both demographic characteristics and geographic regions. The geographic report compares the municipalities of Estes Park, Fort Collins, Loveland, including the whole county.
Key report findings describe Larimer County as a livable community for older adults within six community dimensions of Overall Community Quality, Community and Belonging, Community Information, Productive Activities, Health and Wellness and Community Design and Land Use.
Community Quality highlights included most of Larimer County’s older residents gave high ratings to the community as a place to live. Over three-quarters of older adults would recommend Larimer County to others, although this rating was lower in 2018 compared to 2014. More than four in 10 respondents had lived in the community for more than 20 years and about eight in 10 planned to stay in the community throughout their retirement. When compared to other communities across the nation, Larimer County older residents tended to rate aspects of Community Quality higher or similar; however, ratings for many aspects declined from 2014 to 2018.
The remainder of this comprehensive survey will be on our website homepage under Larimer County News in February.
Community and Belonging: Results on Community and Belonging indicated more than three-quarters of respondents reported “excellent” or “good” overall feelings of safety and between 4% and 23% had experienced safety problems related to being a victim of crime, abuse, fraud or discrimination. About six in 10 older residents rated the sense of community as excellent or good, thus similar ratings were provided for the County’s neighborliness and valuing of older residents. When compared to other communities in the U.S., older residents in Larimer County provided similar ratings for aspects of Community and Belonging.
Community Information indicated about six in 10 survey respondents reported being “somewhat” or “very” informed about services and activities available to older adults, which was similar than reports from other communities in the U.S.
Reports of feeling informed about services and activities has been trending down since 2010. About half of older adults gave “excellent” or “good” ratings to the availability of information about older adult resources and financial or legal planning services. Both of these evaluations decreased from 2014 to 2018. Over half of respondents had problems knowing what services were available and feeling like their voice was heard in the community.
About one-quarter reported having problems with finding meaningful volunteer work, a rate that was similar in Larimer County compared to other communities.
Productive Activities: Productive Activities such as traditional and non-traditional forms of work and maintenance of social ties combine with health and personal characteristics to promote quality of life in later life and contribute to active aging. Productive Activities examined the extent of older adults’ engagement participation in social and leisure programs and their time spent attending or viewing civic meetings, volunteering or providing help to others.
Almost nine in 10 elders felt they had “excellent” or “good” opportunities to volunteer, and more than one-third participated in some kind of volunteer work, a volunteer rate similar than other communities in the U.S. Almost three in 10 respondents had used a senior center in the community, which was similar when compared to senior center use in other communities. About four in 10 seniors said that they had at least “minor” problems having interesting social events or activities to attend.
The majority of older residents (80%) rated the recreation opportunities in Larimer County as “excellent” or “good”, a decrease from 2014. Participation in recreational and personal enrichment activities tended to be similar in Larimer County than in other communities.
Half of older residents in Larimer County said they were caregivers; and respondents averaged between nine and 10 hours per week providing care for children, adults and older adults. About one in five older adults in Larimer County felt physically, emotionally or financially burdened by their caregiving.
Over half of respondents were fully retired and at least one-quarter of respondents experienced at least minor problems with having enough money to meet daily expenses or to pay their property taxes. Fewer older adults in 2018 compared to 2014 had problems finding work in retirement. The value of paid (part- and full-time work) and unpaid (volunteering, providing care) contributions by older adults in Larimer County totaled about $1.5 billion in a 12-month period.
Health and Wellness Of all the attributes of aging, health poses the greatest risk and the biggest opportunity for communities to ensure the independence and contributions of their aging populations. Health and wellness, for the purposes of this study, included not only physical and mental health, but issues of independent living and health care.
Overall, the older adults in Larimer County rated aspects of physical health higher than other communities in the U.S. including ratings of fitness opportunities and their own overall physical health. While the availability of affordable physical health care was similar to the national average, Larimer County’s rating declined from 2014 to 2018.
The portions of older residents reporting problems with doing heavy or intense housework (48%) and staying physically fit (47%) was lower in Larimer County than elsewhere in the country while maintaining their yards (39%) was similar.
About three in 10 older residents felt there was “excellent” or “good” availability of mental health care in Larimer County (a decrease from more than four in 10 in 2014), while nine in 10 rated their overall mental health/emotional wellbeing as “excellent” or “good” (similar to 2014). The most commonly cited mental health issues included feeling bored (35%) and feeling depressed (34%), while the least cited issue was figuring out which medications to take and when (7%); these mental health problems experienced by older adults tended to be similar to the problems experienced by older adults in other communities.
Compared to other communities across the nation, elders rated the availability of preventive health services in Larimer County similar to the availability of these services found elsewhere, but ratings declined from 2014 to 2018.
More than one-third of older adults reported at least minor problems with having adequate information or dealing with public programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Less than one-quarter of respondents reported spending time in a hospital, and one-third had fallen and injured themselves in the 12 months prior to the survey. Falls and hospitalizations occurred at similar rates in Larimer County compared to other communities.
At least one in 10 of older adults reported at least minor problems with aspects of independent living, including one-quarter who reported having problems with performing regular activities, including walking, eating and preparing meals.
Community Design and Land Use: The movement in America towards designing more “livable” communities – those with mixed-use neighborhoods, higher-density development, increased connections, shared community spaces and more human-scale design – will become a necessity for communities to age successfully. Communities that have planned for older adults tend to emphasize access – a community design that facilitates movement and participation.
Respondents rated the ease of getting to the places they usually have to visit, ease of car travel and ease of walking most positively with at least six in 10 rating each as “excellent” or “good.”
About one in 10 respondents felt they had “excellent” or “good” availability of affordable quality housing and almost three in 10 felt positively about the variety of housing options. Ratings for both of these services have been declining since 2010.
Some older adults experienced problems with having safe and affordable transportation available (21%) while others experienced problems with having housing to suit their needs (18%) or having enough food to eat (8%). Daily living problems tended to be similar in Larimer County when compared to other communities across the nation and ratings have remained stable over time. Close to nine in 10 of older residents rated their overall quality of life as “excellent” or “good”, making Larimer County’s quality of life rated similar to other communities in the U.S. and stable over time.
Opportunities and Challenges: Survey respondents were asked to rate a number of aspects of the community which were converted to an average scale of 0 (the lowest rating, e.g., “poor”) to 100 (the highest rating, e.g., “excellent”) and then combined to provide one overall rating (index1) for each of the six dimensions of Community Readiness. Summary scores provide a broad picture of the perceived fit between what Larimer County offered to older adults in Larimer County and what older residents needed: Older residents felt their needs were best met in the areas of Overall Community Quality and Productive Activities Community Information and Design and Land Use were rated less favorably and received the lowest average ratings. Ratings of most of the dimensions of Community Readiness declined between 2014 and 2018, with ratings of Community Belonging and Community Design remaining stable between the two administration.
For the complete survey results, please visit the Larimer County Office on Aging webpage at www.larimer.org/humanservices/aging/ooa.