The well-being of the District of Columbia’s senior citizens is a priority for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D), according to the leader of the city’s aging and senior services agency. Laura Newland, executive director of the D.C. Office on Aging (DOA), told reporters June 29 about programs to aid District seniors with food and housing and how the agency helps seniors deal with the issues of the present day.
Laura Newland, director of the District’s Department of Aging, spoke about D.C.’s programs to aid senior residents. (Courtesy photo)
The District government defines a senior as a resident who is 60 years old and older. The District has 266,707 residents that are 60-years-old and over, according to a 2016-2017 census.
The DOA issued its state planning on aging in the city in 2013 that showed 60.4 percent of all seniors are Black. Many of the District’s elderly have problems with eating nourishing food on a consistent basis because of immobility due to poor health and/or lack of transportation plus a lack of first-rate grocery stores in their neighborhoods.
Newland said there is a program to address that need. “We have a Good Foods program that will start in the middle of July,” Newland said. “There is a lot of food insecurity in Wards 7 and 8 and we decided to dig a little bit deeper to find out why this was so. This program focuses on our needs population.”
Good Foods is designed to give seniors in the home-delivery program meals and groceries three times a day, four days a week instead of the one-meal a day program. The Good Foods pilot program will go from July to September and is limited to Ward 7 and 8 seniors.
“We want to have a program that focuses on 75 folks a day with three meals a day,” Newland said. “We also want to make sure that the seniors like the food that they are being offered.”
Newland said the Safe at Home program will emphasize a newer component. “We will add security cameras for seniors without cost and focus on safety around the house,” she said. “We want to keep people in the community and make sure that they are safe in their homes. In addition to cameras, we will work with seniors to see what other type of adjustments can be made in the house to make sure they are safe.”
Newland participated in the much-hyped Senior Fest on June 29 at Kenilworth Park. The Senior Fest highlighted city services and non-profits that emphasize seniors with a party atmosphere of food, music, and games. Bowser joined Newland, D.C. Council members, and other government officials to talk about her plans to make the District a senior-friendly place.
One resident who attended Senior Fest was Constancy Woody, a Ward 7 resident and a longtime activist on behalf of seniors. Woody told the {AFRO} she enjoyed Senior Fest but has mixed feelings about DOA presently.
“They really need to work on their wellness centers,” Woody said, referring to the city-run facilities located in Wards 1, 4, 5, 7 and 8. The wellness centers house activities such as meals, recreation, and educational instruction. “A number of seniors have complained certain things such as having better customer service among the staff at the wellness centers but it seems no one is listening to us.”