As Orange County Ages

The oldest of the American generation known as the baby boomers turned 50 two years ago. They are healthier and likely to live longer than their parents and grandparents. That raises the question of what changes society will have to make to cope with so many older people.

According to figures compiled in 1995, those born between 1946 and 1964 accounted for more than one-third of Orange County’s population. Their large presence has remained steady, according to Cal State Fullerton’s Center for Demographic Research. As baby boomers have aged, they have stayed the biggest group in the county.

The center’s director, Bill Gayk, released the latest statistics this month.

In doing so, he observed correctly that government will have to devote more attention to the needs of greater numbers of seniors as the years go on.

For instance, designers of new parks probably should be as attentive to walking areas as they are to baseball fields for youth, especially if people living nearby are not that far away from retirement. Also, if the activity of today’s seniors is any indication, the next group entering their 60s will be unlikely to only sit on a bench in the sun and forgo vigorous activity.

Gayk said the county also must face the likely need for more paramedic service as the number of elderly increases. Also, Peggy Weatherspoon, director of the county’s Area Agency on Aging, has observed that older adults are more likely to stay at home, often by choice. That means home-delivered meals.

Those whose reflexes slow may wind up without automobiles. That means different kinds of transportation will be needed. Adult day care will have to be expanded.

Orange County is readying a master plan for dealing with the needs of the elderly. Jim Silva, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, has called for a seniors summit to discuss the issue. It’s a good idea.

The county long has been home to large numbers of seniors, evidenced by the presence of Leisure World housing developments in Rossmoor and Laguna Hills. The Seal Beach area, including Rossmoor, has the oldest median age in the county, 47.4 years. Of about 26,000 people in Seal Beach, nearly 10,000 are 65 or older, the Center for Demographic Research reported.

By contrast, Santa Ana has the largest population under 5 years old, 52,000. Its overall population is younger as well. Gayk said one reason is that the immigrants who have come to the city in recent years tend to be young. Another is that the young immigrants, unsurprisingly, tend to have more children than older residents.

Despite the large number of baby boomers, the median age of county residents is lower than the statewide median. In 1990, the median age of Orange County residents was 30.5. Five years later, it was 32.2.

The number of immigrants moving to the county climbed steadily and peaked in the early 1990s, the center said.

There is a chance that residents who are at or near retirement age will leave Orange County. That has happened frequently enough in recent years to constitute what Gayk called a major demographic trend.

But because of their sheer numbers--more than 700,000 county residents are 35 to 54--those who choose to stay on will be a formidable force, politically and economically. Many will be natives of Orange County, children of the post-World War II generation that transformed bean fields and orange groves into high-tech business parks and shopping malls.

The county will have to seek ways to meet the needs of such a large group. Planning for the changes will make it easier on both the retirees and the government, whose job it is to serve them.