Countywide : Ventura Joins Video Broadcast on Aging

The Ventura County Government Center served as Southern California’s only satellite link Thursday for a broadcast to 8,000 people interested in planning for a rapidly aging population.

Transportation expert Alan Pisarski was the featured speaker at a National Assn. of Counties video conference in Minneapolis, which 70 employees of agencies in Ventura, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties watched in Ventura live by satellite.

By the year 2030, participants said, one-quarter of the nation’s population will be over 65, including Ventura County’s.

And because 95% of people over 65 will be driving within the next decade, changes in the nation’s transportation system will have to accompany changes in services for the country’s older citizens, one national transportation consultant said.

“Planners have to think how we’re going to make society age-friendly and the facilities suitable for this kind of population,” said Gary Paul, the local co-chairman of the conference.

Workers involved in transportation, public works, waste management, planning and human services for seniors watched the national association’s first video conference, televised to 150 sites nationwide. Participants could ask questions by fax or telephone.

The conference also allowed time for participants at each site to discuss the needs of their own counties, then compare them to others nationwide.

“You got to hear some authorities, you got to ask some questions, you’ve got to discuss the issues locally and set priorities” without having to travel to Minneapolis, Paul said. At a cost of $5 per participant, “it was very cost effective.” Several attending the conference in Ventura said they were encouraged to learn that problems here are problems everywhere.

“I thought it was very positive and very constructive,” said Colleen House, executive director of the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging. “Ventura County’s concerns for the elderly were mirrored nationwide.”