Last week, Juneau joined a program that commits to making the city more livable for seniors.
AARP’s Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities recognizes cities that commit to serving their older populations better. Juneau is the second city in Alaska to join, following Anchorage.
Emily Kane, chair of the City and Borough of Juneau’s Commission on Aging, said the designation is more of a promise than a reward.
“We have to earn that status. Every five years, we have to make a report to AARP,” she said.
Kane is a senior herself. She said that Juneau needs to be considering its rapidly growing population of older people.
“Alaska is one of the fastest aging states in the nation,” she said. “And Southeast Alaska is the hub of the agingness of Alaska.”
To get the designation, the Juneau Assembly and Mayor Beth Weldon had to commit to make Juneau more accessible and to invest in infrastructure for older community members. Kane said part of that commitment is identifying a project that can be done in five years.
One thing older Juneauites want that she thinks is possible in that timeframe is a senior-focused pickleball court.
“I’m like, ‘Let’s put in some senior fitness equipment,’” Kane said. “But then, when I really ask seniors, they’re like, ‘No, we want a pickleball court.’”
Kane said she also hopes that a volunteer hub for the organizations that serve older Juneauites would be a feasible goal. Now, she said, programs like Meals on Wheels or the now-defunct program Friends of Seniors are hard to coordinate and streamline.
Kane said that despite the age-friendly designation, older people in Juneau face some big barriers like access to medical care and housing.
Juneau’s only provider of in-home and end-of-life care closed last fall, which Kane said left a major gap in the needs of older people. She also pointed to the lack of medical specialists in town.
“Our neurologist is in her 80s,” Kane said. “She’s trying to retire.”
Housing in Juneau is also a personal issue for her.
“I want to age in place, but my house is up 66 stairs,” she said. “I’m a pretty healthy senior — knock on wood — but there’s going to come a time where I just cannot carry my flat from Costco up all my stairs. I’m going to have to find a place to stay that has fewer stairs, and is more suitable for someone who’s becoming older. And those options are limited,” she said.
Assembly member Michelle Hale said the city has been working to address lack of housing for older people through projects like the Riverview Senior Living Facility, which will open sometime this spring.
But Hale said the city still has a ways to go.
“Elder people are here, and they’re going to continue to be here,” she said. “And the better we make Juneau for older people to live, then the better they are for Juneau as well.”
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