MOORHEAD -- Moorhead resident Valerie Ritland has experienced, and seen friends experience, some of the challenges older adults face in Moorhead.
Those issues include a lack of affordable housing, barriers to transportation and lack of ways to learn about events and services. Ritland is addressing those issues as part of a group of Moorhead residents trying to help.
That group is Age-Friendly Moorhead, a committee of community members and leaders working to make Moorhead more accessible and friendly for older adults and other community members.
"Age-friendly means all ages," Ritland said, noting their work focuses on issues faced by older adults because they are the fastest-growing population.
"But when you think about it, if there's something that works for older people, it might work for other ages, too," Ritland said. "Accessibility, you know, works for all ages."
The group has been conducting listening sessions for older adults in Moorhead to get a grasp on the issues they face and their needs as they grow older.
"We want to make sure that we're really paying a greater attention to what services there are because we want the elderly to stay in our community and not have to go somewhere else to have their needs met," Ritland said.
Mason Kimble, intern for Dancing Sky Area Agency on Aging, helps coordinate the group's activities. She said it has an ultimate goal of bringing the city under the umbrella of the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities.
"Right now, it's just really grassroots," Kimble said.
The AARP program supports the work of communities to prepare for the United States' aging population. Communities and states involved in the program have committed to becoming more livable for people of all ages, especially older adults, according to AARP. Network members commit to making improvements in the community and get access to resources to help them in the process.
The state of Minnesota joined the network in 2022.
This summer, Age-Friendly Moorhead committee members plan to present the findings of the listening sessions to the Moorhead City Council in hopes of starting the process of joining the AARP program and starting projects to help older adults in Moorhead.
The issues Ritland listed have been common themes at listening sessions, she and Kimble said.
There are events and services for older adults, but there is no central place to find out about those events, Kimble said. Seniors tend to be isolated, Ritland added.
"Isolation leads to depression and other health issues as well that are related to being isolated," Ritland said.
Transportation is available, but not always convenient. Ritland said MATBUS does not always stop near the places older adults are living and many ride services have to be scheduled in advance. In the winter, snow and ice can reduce accessibility at places older adults frequent, causing them to leave their homes less often and become more isolated, Kimble said.
Few senior housing complexes exist in Moorhead, and some are expensive or lack amenities like green space, Ritland said.
"Some of my friends who are about my age or a little bit older have had to move to Fargo, or they moved to Barnesville, or they move to some place with an affordable 55 and older facility," Ritland said. "Then you're losing your valuable citizens."
Members of U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar's team held a listening session about issues affecting older adults on Tuesday, March 4. Older adults and organization leaders echoed the needs listed by Ritland: better communication about activities and services for seniors, transportation and housing affordability.
Jim McKinstra, an Age-Friendly Moorhead committee member and a member of the Minnesota Board on Aging, attended the listening session Tuesday. He brought up issues around affordable housing, noting that people ages 60 and older are one of the fastest-growing populations of homeless people.
He said that while Age-Friendly Moorhead is focused on Moorhead, people who live in Fargo can join the discussions. People have connections on either side of the river as they work and access health care.
"They're certainly welcome to join our efforts because we want the input for the whole region," McKinstra said.
The next Age-Friendly Moorhead listening session is from 6-8 p.m. on Thursday, March 13, at the Moorhead Public Library. Another listening session will be from 1-3 p.m. on Monday, March 24, at the Hjemkomst Center.