Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
3 <br /> and management should utilize the skills of older adults <br /> and participants as employees, volunteers, advisory or <br /> 41/ governing board members. <br /> III. CRITICAL FACTORS IN PLANNING SENIOR CENTERS <br /> Before planning any new senior centers in southern Orange, <br /> three critical factors must be recognized and addressed: (1) The <br /> basic designs of senior center facilities, (2) The diversity of <br /> the older population and services needed, and (3) The types of <br /> senior centers based on their programming. <br /> A. Two Basic Senior Center Designs. In investigating and <br /> visiting various senior centers, two distinct facility <br /> designs emerged: <br /> 1. A separate. exclusive facility for seniors only. <br /> This type of design was typically found in the <br /> triangle area, examples being Garner and Wendell. <br /> 2 . An intergenerational facility. This type of design <br /> involves serving seniors as part of a larger facility <br /> for all age groups. Orange County has the best <br /> example of this type with its Hillsborough Senior <br /> Center (part of the Richard E. Whitted Human Services <br /> Center) and the Carrboro Senior Center (part of the <br /> Community ArtsCenter) . <br /> B. The Diversity of the Older Population & Needed Services. <br /> We need to recognize that older adults are a diverse <br /> population group with varying decrees of functional <br /> capacity when considering senior center planning. Three <br /> functional subgroups of older adults have been <br /> identified: the "Active-Well", the "Frail" and the <br /> "Fragile" . This might be viewed as the three "stages of <br /> aging" over time and are more specifically described <br /> below. <br /> 1. Active/Well seniors. Most (almost 80%, in fact) of <br /> the people over 60 in this country and this community <br /> belong to this section of the 60+ population. Though <br /> many of these "Active" persons may have a chronic <br /> health problem, it doesn't constitute any impairment <br /> or prevent them from living the lives to which they <br /> are accustomed. The focus of senior center planning <br /> is usually on group_activities and services for <br /> productive living and maintaining good health. <br /> 2. Moderately impaired seniors,. Just over 15% of older <br /> adults (60+) do have health problems serious enough to <br /> make them "frail". Typically, they experience <br /> difficulty with one or more of the common activities of <br />