Senior centers serve
diverse aging population
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For more than 50 years, senior centers have offered older Hoosiers nutrition, health education and exercise, educational and employment opportunities and transportation services. As Indiana's population ages and as Baby Boomers begin to join the "senior" ranks, Indiana senior centers find themselves evaluating how best to serve a diverse aging population that spans 30 years or more.
Bob Pitman, Director of Bartholomew County Senior Center and past chairman of the
National Institute of Senior Centers (NISC), sees attracting and serving Baby Boomers while still providing for the participants 85 years old and over as one of the biggest challenges facing senior centers today.
In response to this challenge, some centers use names that avoid age stereotypes and develop an ageless approach like Prime Life Enrichment Center of Carmel or the planned Mill Race Center which will replace the Bartholomew County Senior Center in 2010.
"The trend is toward adult community or multi-generation community centers, which allows for better use of community dollars and creates the kind of features that attract the younger aging population," Pitman said.
In her 2007 farewell letter, Constance Todd, departing NISC director, said
"To work best, over the next several decades, centers will need to balance how they serve multiple generations based on age, ability, ethnicity, interests, and income. What's new about that? The competition! The competition for this audience of mature adults--especially those with the most resources in terms of income, skills, and time--will be greater than ever before...People will look to the senior center to provide services that facilitate positive aging."
Some Indiana centers - including the Hendricks County and Indianapolis Senior Centers -- are adding fitness centers and public computer rooms to encourage positive aging. The Dallas Winchester Senior Center in Wabash offers a Nintendo Wii healthy gaming program and uses senior volunteers to operate the local food bank.
Indianapolis developer Leo Stenz has pursued another model of serving seniors. Stenz Corporation has remodeled school buildings into senior housing facilities that offer residents fitness centers and social activities. Communities where these facilities are located include Crawfordsville, Lafayette, Lebanon, and Shelbyville.
Dianna Pandak, executive director of Shelby Senior Services, recognizes the value of partnering with facilities that cater to seniors, but are not senior centers, such as Stenz's Pearson Place Senior Apartments in Shelbyville.
"By taking our health and wellness programming out to these facilities, we have been able to reach people who wouldn't consider setting foot in a senior center," Pandak said. | 
