Letter - Helping the Rural Elderly - NYTimes.com

Jo Ivey Boufford's Letter to the Editor in the New York Times:

Re “For Rural Elderly, Times Are Distinctly Harder” (front page, Dec. 10):

The daunting challenges facing the rural elderly highlight America’s failure to embrace the overwhelming needs of this rapidly growing population.

A lack of transportation, cuts in home health care services, and the growing desire of many elderly to age in place for as long as possible are just the tip of the iceberg.

Equally important but often overlooked is the risk of social isolation faced by the elderly who live alone, both in rural and urban environments. Seniors who are isolated from family, friends and their communities face the risk of developing mental illness, depression and other diseases of the brain.

Many cities, with encouragement from the World Health Organization, are developing age-friendly initiatives for all seniors, regardless of their location. Specifically, they seek to improve transportation, housing, social inclusion, community support and health services.

Each community has a responsibility to help its seniors age with the resources, community support and dignity they so richly deserve. The costs of doing so are minimal compared with the consequences of treating this population as out of sight, out of mind.

Jo Ivey Boufford

New York, Dec. 11, 2009

The writer, a doctor and president of the New York Academy of Medicine, helped initiate Age-Friendly New York City, a plan by New York City to address the needs of the elderly.