Sallie Morgan, Chair of Aging Together and Senior Manager with the Rappahannock Rapidan Community Services Board/Area Agency on Aging, has provided leadership in local aging services development since 1976.

The five counties that comprise Virginia's Rappahannock Rapidan Region - Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange, and Rappahannock - are experiencing an unprecedented growth of their retirement-age population. As Baby Boomers in the region begin to turn 60, and large numbers of retirees move into the area, older adults account for an ever-increasing portion of local residents. By the year 2020, the number of person age 60 and over in the region is expected to double; more than one in four residents will be an older adult.

Aging Together, a regional partnership of over one hundred organizations and individuals, is a collaborative effort to help our five counties prepare for this age  wave. Known originally as the Rappahannock Rapidan Eldercare Coalition, the partnership has adopted the name Aging Together to reflect the reality that aging affects everyone and that the only way to improve supports for older adults and families is to work collaboratively.

The Aging Together partnership collected information about older persons living in the region through an extensive Elder Needs Assessment in 2002. We then asked for input from seniors, caregivers, service providers, and decision-makers through a series of “Community Conversations on Aging” held in each county in 2005. The voices we heard in those Conversations, and the data from the needs assessment, echo similar themes, questions and concerns:

• My mother has Alzheimer’s disease. Is there a safe and affordable place she can go during the day to give us both a break?
• My biggest fear is being lonely and isolated. How can I stay connected?
• How will I get to the store or the doctor if I can’t drive?
• I don’t want to go to a nursing home; can I get affordable care in my home?
• Is there any affordable housing designed for older people in this area?
• My husband seems so depressed. How can I get help for him?
• How can I find out what services are available here in my community?

The many individuals who have joined forces under the Aging Together banner have been working through teams in each county as well as nine regional workgroups to figure out what our communities can do to provide better answers to questions like these.

In 2004, the partnership was one of eleven grantees nationwide to receive a highly competitive Community Partnerships for Older Adults grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The grant has provided funding and technical assistance to engage the entire community in creating a plan for long-term and supportive services development in the region. The resulting plan is presented in Aging Together: A Plan for Supporting the Older Residents of Virginia's Rappahannock Rapidan Region. In the Plan, you will read about the challenges our communities face, the solutions Aging Together is proposing, and the ways we will monitor progress in these areas. We hope you will join with us to help put this plan into action and to make each of our communities a great place to grow older.

Sallie Morgan, Chair
Aging Together