Supervisors Host Conference on Challenges Faced by Aging

County supervisors hosted a conference on aging in Costa Mesa on Thursday that highlighted what many of the 1,100 attendees knew already: The county’s population over age 65 is growing rapidly, and the challenges are escalating just as quickly.

Orange County now has the eighth-largest population of residents 65 or older in the nation, which has triggered concerns about everything from transportation to affordable housing.

“We are acutely aware of the lack of available funding for services,” said Supervisor Chuck Smith, one of the speakers at the conference at the Hilton Hotel. Still, government can’t do everything and must work together with private agencies to bridge the gap, he said.

Some of the conference was inspirational. Brenda Premo, director of a disability center at Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, said stereotypes and misconceptions about the elderly and disabled often hold people back. She used her own life as an example.

Premo, who is legally blind, said she never considered attending college, let alone having a career at one, assuming it just wasn’t possible. Later, she said, a counselor encouraged her to go to college.

“It’s about attitude and perception,” Premo said. “What people think may determine the outcome of what happens.”