Keeping the Current White Patrons

Senior Citizen Center staff members must remain sensitive to the white senior population who currently use the centers. Committing staff members to increasing ethnic diversity must also include giving them tools to help in counseling the white elderly to accept non-white older people in the centers. One counseling tool, Counseling towards Integration of the Senior Centers of Davis County, Utah, has been developed concomitantly with this work for Capella HS815.

One reason that integration might be difficult for the white patrons of the Senior Citizen Centers in Davis County is the recent rapid changes that have taken place in immigration patterns into the United States. They may have not had sufficient time to adjust as shown in an article by Duignan (2004):

1- Until the early decades of the twentieth century, immigrants were usually

     European.

2- Most immigrants today are from Asia, Mexico, Latin America, and the

    Caribbean.

3- The newcomers have come more quickly and in greater numbers than previous

     waves of immigrants.

4- They therefore have a bigger impact on population growth, the economy,

     schools and the welfare system.

5- They are harder to integrate than earlier immigrants were because there are

      fewer pressures on them to assimilate and learn English

     (Duignan, 2004, p. 26).

Krause and Rook (2003) found that older adults may, unknowingly, create negative interactions in their relationships. It was noted that some older adults, who have interpersonal problems with one social relationship, tend to find problems in others (p. P88). It is reasonable to assume that these older people will have the hardest time in adjusting to integration of the centers.

                 Why Older People Will Benefit From Multi-Culturalism

Besides the legal requirements from the OAA concerning the need for integration in the Senior Citizen Centers, there are other important things that the older white majority needs to learn from minority members. Becker, Beyene, Newsom and Mayen (2003) studied four ethnic groups in creating mutual assistance to the members of the group. They found that while whites are more likely to look to government to help the elderly, minority groups have learned to create continuity through the life span using informal mutual assistance strategies. These informal groupings include kin and non-kin elements that reach into the community as far as is needed. The basic motto of such combinations is that any one person may need from the others in the future, therefore, it is important to give help now to insure that help will come when it is needed. If this attitude became adopted by all ethnic and racial groups, it would help with projected shortfalls in federal money set aside to serve the elderly.

Demographics shifts

According to the 2000 US Census the median age of the population of Utah and the entire United States is increasing. As the number of people who reach their elderly years increases, the need for adequate adult caregiving increases. Federal and local governments are expected to continue a trend of cutting funding in this area (Greene & Knee, 1996). How will the projected increase of informal adult care giving come about among the white majority members, who prefer “intimacy at a distance,” rather than expect help from the extended family? Lessons from minority members who are more extended family oriented may provide important clues to the aging white majority.

Aging economics

Most white elderly who lived during the Great Depression have died, and with them the knowledge of how to survive hard times. However, many minority members are still living in relatively hard times and have developed coping skills, networks of non-kin relationships, and other informal means that help them survive. Due to expected shortages in Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid during retirement years, the older white population would be wise to learn those skills from the minority populations (Greene & Knee, 1996).

The environment and urbanization

The number of unhealthy air days declared in Davis County both during the winter and summer months have been steadily increasing and are especially hard on the elderly population. These conditions are related to the increases in pollution and grid lock as the area is growing dramatically in population. The state forecasts that Davis County will grow by 50% over the next 20 years (Mason, D., Peak, T., Krannich, R.S., & Sanderson, M.L., 2002). The area is suffering from unwise building practices and the future is bleak. Lessons about learning to live with the land rather than conquer the land are sorely needed. They may be provided if the wisdom of minority members, such as the Native American Indian, can be tapped. Unfortunately this minority exists in the area but has not been invited to discussions on growth issues of the state. “We did not inherit the Earth from our ancestors. We are borrowing it from our children” –Chief Seattle (Carr-Ruffino, 2003, p. 219).

“Cherokee and Navajo are by far the most populous of the 558 tribes. About 730,000 claim Cherokee affiliation while nearly 300,000 claim to be Navajo. These are total figures that include members who do not live on tribal land” (p. 228). The Navajo Nation sits partly in Utah. There are many other tribes living in Utah, including the major five that were represented in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.