Identifying Services the City Can Provide to Its Seniors

By Spencer L. Karpf

As the population of Rolling Hills ages, the City should identify ways of providing services to this group that comprises well in excess of fifty percent (50%) of Rolling Hills residents

But, there is still plenty of room for City government to make a contribution to enhanced health and welfare. And, in a city like Rolling Hills with its unique age demographic, health and welfare for seniors is a particularly important topic.

(According to Wikipedia based on 2010 Census Data, the median age for Rolling Hills residents is 51.7 years (as compared with a median age of 32.1 for California taken as a whole.) This essentially means that 50% of residents are 52 or older. According to the same Census Data, 27.6% of the population is 65 or older!)

A couple of years ago (maybe a little less), Maureen Nunn, a long-time resident, raised the idea to the RHCA of a committee to investigate the needs of seniors in the community. From her suggestion began the RHCA 50+ Committee which Maureen along with others established. Many, many good things that benefit this significant Rolling Hills population have come from surveys conducted by the RHCA and suggestions of the committee. It has been a great boon to the community as a whole and to seniors within the community.

I believe it would be appropriate for the Rolling Hills City Council to establish a similar committee to research what additional services are appropriate for the City to provide to this majority segment of the residents. In my position paper on making the City safer for its residents I suggest better education about criminal scams that are or maybe perpetrated within the City that target seniors. This is but one idea.

It would be the job of this newly formed City committee to identify others based on its research along with research that has already been done by the RHCA and its senior committee.