Background

Harris County and Houston are known as young communities because their proportion of elders, those over age 65, is small relative to the U.S. In Harris County, elders make up only 7.4 percent of the total population as compared to a 12.4 percent in the entire country. Even as a smaller segment of the community, elders over age 85, 69 percent of whom are women, are fastest growing segment of our population, and are twice as likely as men their age to live alone. These elders have unique needs for health and social services that may help them remain active and healthy.

Along with children, elders who are members of underserved neighborhoods have additional burdens such as gender, ethnic and racial background, and age that increases their vulnerability to disease and disability. Even with Medicare and Medicaid it may become difficult for many elders to access care due to mobility and transportation limitations. As longevity and health status improve for many elders, poverty among minority elders continues to rise as communities learn to attend to needs of aging care givers or to elders who are isolated.

To help identify and address the needs of the community's most vulnerable elders with the additional consequences of life-long environmental and other stresses, poverty, isolation, inadequate accesses to primary and mental health care, as well as increased disability, The Charities has been involved in several projects. Among them are:

• The Charities led a group of researchers and aging specialists in a project that establishes and will track critical indicators of health in Harris County. The Elder Report Card is the outcome of work from a collaboration that includes: The University of Texas School of Public Health, Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Woman's University and health care institutions such as Harris County Department of Health, Houston Department of Health and Human Services, Sheltering Arms Senior Services, Gateway to Care and others, United Way, AAA, and others.
• In the service of The Episcopal Diocese of Texas Community Outreach Ministries, we collaborated with Senior Ministries, to sponsor "Hand in Hand with Seniors", a series of informative and enjoyable lunchtime programs for elders. the presentations, offered throughout the Episcopal Diocese of Texas, provide cutting-edge information on resources and findings that are of interest to individuals who are over 50 years old and take an active role in remaining engaged learners.