Rodger Marion

Last week I closed with this statement, “As the huge bolus of Baby Boomers moves thru the population people who move slower, are less agile, susceptible to cold and heat, and weaker but generally affluent will become a majority force in America.”

Upon further reflection I wondered if that was completely true. The majority part, well, make that major part. The Baby Boomer bulge is quite influential now and is going to stay so for a long time to come. How about this, “Baby Boomers, defined as adults born between 1946 and 1964, include over 79 million Americans. This demographic group represents more than half the nation’s wealth, with an estimated $2.3 trillion in annual buying power” (Source: U.S. Census Bureau 2009, Met Life Mature Market Institute 2009 Demographic Profile).

So what about the other part of that earlier blog, will rural areas, now only 16% of the population, experience any growth in the near future?

There appear to be two distinct population segments that are moving to rural areas. The first are young Hispanic families coming to work in the food processing industry and other factory-type jobs (Dalla) and the second are Baby Boomers coming for a variety of reasons, but mainly retirement (Cromartie & Nelson).

These two groups do not overlap very much as to demographics either. The make up of the boomers is: “17% are minorities. 12% are Black. 4% are Asian. Less than 1% are American Indian and Alaska Natives. People of Hispanic origin (who may be of any race) comprise 11% of Baby Boomers” (Source: Met Life Mature Market Institute 2009 Demographic Profile). Boomers who move to the country are usually empty-nesters seeking a scenic place to retire or a cheaper home (Cromartie & Nelson). The advance of Internet services has allowed boomers to continue to work at white-collar jobs as distance employees or consultants.

And one just wonders, if after a life of chasing the American dream, the boomers did not recall their hippy days of yearning for a rural commune, and now finally are seeking out that vision. I know that where I live the old hippy is not a vanishing breed.

Hispanics who move to rural areas for factory jobs are initially young men, with their families following along later. Thus, this group is younger with children and perhaps a few elders tagging along as well.

Approximately 6 million boomers live in Texas and more will move here. We even have a state program to promote retirement in Texas, the GO TEXAN Certified Retirement Community Program (http://www.retireintexas.org). To date a significant number of rural East Texas communities are already participating. This migration will have a significant effect on Texas and will generate health care and wellness concerns as a result.

These two groups will have different drivers for the communities they live in. Younger families, with limited incomes, will need schools and social services geared to the issues of the young. The boomers will demand and be able to pay for health services and social infrastructure to aid mobility and access. Thus, many a sleepy rural community, struggling along on dwindling farming and ranching activities and with moribund retail services, may soon find itself with new and demanding residents who will bring both consumer benefits and social liabilities.

References:

Cromartie, John and Nelson, Peter. Baby Boom Migration and Its Impact on Rural America. United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, Economic Research Report Number 79, August 2009.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err79/err79.pdf

Dalla, Rochelle. Examining Strengths and Challenges of Rapid Rural Immigration. Great Plains Studies: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences, 2004.
http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1714&context=greatplainsresearch&sei-redir=1#search=%22rural%20immegration%22

A few weeks ago I wrote about a nostalgic trip back to rural roots as told in the film, The Trip to Bountiful. That imaginary rural community was almost deserted as people had moved on to new things. Most of us have moved on it seems. A recent article in the Austin American Statesman cited that just 16% of Americans live in rural areas. In 1910, the year my father was born, it was 72%.

For a country that has this farming/cowboy image, the reality may be difficult. What lies in the future seems to be the megalopolis. What is this? It is the urban conglomeration one gets when all the space between cities gets filled in with more city. It’s sort of like how Jack London described people with drinking issues by saying (paraphrased), “They only drink between drinks.”

Yen says of megalopolises, “… analysts point to a merger of areas between Austin and San Antonio, Tampa and Orlando in Florida and possibly Phoenix and Tucson, with the Washington-Baltimore region extending southward to Richmond, Va.”

Los Angles is a megalopolis. Coming out of the empty desert, one hits the urban sprawl at Thousand Palms and does not leave it until, hours later, one scoots thru Santa Clarita. And, here’s the good part, it’s all built for the young. “Cities and suburbs were designed for younger people, full of stairs and cars, [Andrew Scharlach] explained. As they become increasingly difficult to navigate, older people gradually retreat” (Neergaard, 2011).

This expanding urban world relies on cars (still!) and has few accommodations for people who move slower, are less agile, susceptible to cold and heat, and weaker (and in that category are more than just the elderly). A recent article at MSNBC.com explores what urban places are doing to make the megalopolis more user friendly. A wide range of clever and useful things are being implemented. Chairs in stores. Access to toilets. Air conditioning. Accessible and convenient bus transportation. Etcetera. Some old buildings are being developed to be community gathering places and cities are changing building codes to encourage greater access. Good steps, all. Tiny steps in a big problem, but still a beginning.

Rural areas (where we live, that shrinking 16%) already had problems of access, no public transportation, no accessible buildings, and often new development brings design aimed only at the most frequent and affluent customers able to drive and navigate a huge, hot, cold, wet, slippery parking lot. The solution to access is to become the most frequent and affluent customer. Neergaard says, “By 2050, 1 in 5 Americans will be seniors. Worldwide, almost 2 billion people will be 60 or older, 400 million of them over 80.

I say, they who buy are catered to. As the huge bolus of Baby Boomers moves thru the population people who move slower, are less agile, susceptible to cold and heat, and weaker but generally affluent will become a majority force in America. Who said getting old was all bad?

References:

London, Jack. A Goboto Night in Son of the Sun, Doubleday, 1912. http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/SonofSun/goboto.html

Neergaard, Lauran. Aging baby boomers strain cities built for the young, MSNBC.com, July 10, 2011. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43696689/ns/us_news-life/t/aging-baby-boomers-strain-cities-built-young

Yen, Hope. Rural U.S. population share hits low. Austin American Statesman, July 27, 2011. http://www.statesman.com/news/nation/rural-u-s-population-share-hits-low-1663240.html

An opinion

We have labels for every stage in life: baby, child, adolescent, teen, young adult, middle aged, mature adult, elderly. I don’t like labels. I did not like being called “kid” when I was 9, and now, as I’m on the down slope to “three score and ten,” I don’t care much for “elderly” either.

But we are concerned with aging and as such is not our population of interest the elderly? I think not.

Being elderly is a label, a judgment, a condition, a state… what? Let’s say it is at least a label.

Now, how about aging? Aging is not a label. It is a process. My aged cheese is six months old, not sixty years old. But aged cheese is akin to aging in people. An aged cheese has changed over time. Its chemical and structural make up has evolved. So to with us. As soon as we are born, we have cells that are maturing and dying to be quickly replaced by new cells. Thus, we begin to age from birth.

So, aging is not a label and it affects all of us. I like that.

Now, what about the term geriatrics, as in East Texas Geriatric Education Center-Consortium?  The American Geriatrics Society Foundation for Health in Aging defines it as, “Geriatrics is the branch of medicine that focuses on health promotion and the prevention and treatment of disease and disability in later life”  (http://www.healthinaging.org/public_education/what_is_geriatrics.php).

They sort of dodge the bullet by saying “later life,” but as one looks over web sites dealing with geriatrics the focus is always on older people, and rarely on the processes of aging which actually occur across the life span.

This is my conclusion. Aging deals with the changes in organisms over time and thus our audience, the audience of the ETGEC, is everyone. For example, the number of elderly people who have gum disease and oral cancers is somewhat dependent on the extent to which young children get good preventive oral care.

I expect that most of our educational programs will focus on wellness and disease processes in older adults with a number of activities focused on the frail elderly and hospice care. Areas of life where we cannot escape the label of elderly. I just want to keep in mind that we are actually involved with a process, from birth to grave, a process of change and evolution.

Somewhere in here we might consider the value of the label elder as opposed to elderly. I still do not like labels but maybe being an elder of the tribe has utility and might be considered.