During the recently-completed “elder affairs” portion of FY10 House budget debate, State Rep. Mike Rush secured over $300,000 for efforts to make “elder-friendly” communities. “This is a phenomenal achievement as well as a big boost for our AgeWell West Roxbury initiative,” stated Dale Mitchell, Executive Director of Ethos, AgeWell West Roxbury’s facilitator. “West Roxbury is very lucky to have an elected official as concerned about aging issues as Rep. Rush.”
Mitchell noted that AgeWell West Roxbury is one of only a handful of efforts across the state to make communities more conducive for ‘aging-in-place.’ “West Roxbury has the largest number of older people of any neighborhood in Boston,” he stated. “In fact, it has more households with an elder than it does households with a person under eighteen. That’s why we call West Roxbury a ‘naturally occurring retirement community.’”
For the past three years, Ethos has largely operated AgeWell West Roxbury with support from private foundations. Recently, it held a neighborhood summit to discuss a survey of elder and caregiver needs and to help it plan the next phase of its work to make West Roxbury more “elder-friendly.” “Rep. Rush’s support couldn’t have come at a better time,” Mitchell concluded. “Without his support, AgeWell’s work in West Roxbury would cease. And the options for older people struggling to stay at home, in the community they love, would shrink.”