What do Wyoming's older residents need?

Ideas, input and opinions sought on needs of older residents

The Wyoming Department of Health is seeking ideas, opinions and other input on the needs of Wyoming’s older adults and their care partners to recognize their challenges and set strategies to meet those challenges.

The Aging Division, part of WDH, is gathering information to help develop its “Wyoming Four-Year State Plan on Aging for 2021-25.” This plan is essential for federal funding of Wyoming support programs for older adults, but also provides a statewide strategy to help organizations understand how best to help older adult residents.

“Prior research has identified the preference of people to continue living in their homes and communities as they age rather than transition to nursing homes or assisted living facilities,” said Jeff Clark, Community Living Section manager with WDH. “As we work on this plan, one thing we want to do is evaluate the state’s capacity to support these goals while also upholding necessary nursing homes and assisted living facilities.”

Clark said comments from a variety of residents will be valuable and encouraged interested residents and healthcare providers to participate. “While we welcome everyone’s comments, we are especially interested in comments from older adults and those who care for and support them,” he said.

Participation options include:

• More information about the state plan and a voluntary online survey can be found at https://health.wyo.gov/aging/communityliving/agingstateplan/. The survey will remain open through the end of February. Call 307-777-7995 to request a paper survey.
• The Aging Division is also planning a series of eight regional online Zoom community listening sessions over the next few weeks. Listening session information can be found at https://health.wyo.gov/aging/communityliving/agingstateplan/communitylisteningsessions2021/. No advance signup is necessary.