Growing Number of Senior Citizens Have Choices in Sandy Springs

Aging is an adjustment, and it can be done gracefully.

Still, whether it’s you that’s getting older, or your parents and grandparents, aging means change.

Carrie Bellware, executive director of Senior Services North Fulton says aging impacts everything around us, including housing and transportation.

Senior Services North Fulton serves 1,400 people in Sandy Springs. The non-profit operates the “Sandy Springs Neighborhood Senior Center” at the on Vernon Woods Drive.

If you haven’t been to the , put it on your to-do list. Its programs include an "Adult Day Program," an "Independent Senior Program" and the "Sandy Springs Neighborhood Senior Center."

In the “Neighborhood” program, seniors have an array of daytime activities to choose from on a monthly basis, such as fitness and aquatics, arts and crafts, language and computer classes, games and more.

“It’s kind of an unknown jewel,” Bellware said.

While Sandy Springs is an affluent city, many in the senior population, which is growing, live in subsidized housing. And according to Bellware, poor nutrition for the elderly is a huge problem.

Senior Services North Fulton delivers Meals on Wheels to seniors throughout the city. The non-profit also operates the Roswell Neighborhood Senior Center and the Alpharetta/Crabapple Neighborhood Senior Center.

Below are fast facts on aging provided by Bellware.

• Georgia has the ninth fastest growing 60 plus population in the country.

•  Age 85 is the fastest growing age group in the state and country

•  Metro Atlanta recently experienced the fourth largest growth in the 55-64 age group population in the United States.  Las Vegas, Raleigh and Austin have larger growth in the age group.

• 70 percent of older adults were not born in the Atlanta area.

•  In Fulton County, 30 percent of people are over age 60.

• In North Fulton, in year 2000, 28,000 people were over age 65. That was about six percent of total North Fulton population.

•  By 2014, that number is expected to grow to 60,000 or about 10 percent of the North Fulton population.

•  Currently, in Sandy Springs, the population of age 65 and over is about 10 percent. That age group is expected to grow to 12 percent by 2014.

Clients at Senior Services North Fulton

•  40 percent of the non-profit's clients live in Sandy Springs

• Approximately 78 percent are female

• Approximately 22 percent are male

• Approximately 80 percent are white

• Approximately 16 percent are Asian, Hispanic or Native American

• Approximately 4 percent are of another ethnicity

• A significant number of senior citizens in North Fulton are Russian-speaking, Bellware said.