Last month, the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) together with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, announced the designation of Florida as an Age-Friendly State. The announcement by AARP CEO Jo Ann Jenkins, officially rendered the region as the 4th state to join AARP’s Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities.

Governor Desantis emphasized the importance of taking tangible measures in making Florida more habitable for people of all ages, particularly the senior population. The governor takes pride that Florida is the first Sun Belt state and the largest to commit to a very important undertaking.

“As our state continues to grow, we must ensure that we do all that we can to meet the needs of our residents.”

The AARP membership demonstrates Florida’s recognition of the need for its senior citizens to stay healthy, whilst continuing to live actively.

Florida’s Community Care for the Elderly (CCE) Program

Where AARP is mainly focused on keeping the ageing population healthy and active, Florida’s CCE Program addresses the need to provide impaired elders with least restrictive, and at the same time, cost-effective and safe living conditions.

Florida’s CCE furnishes eligible elders with a range of services such as adult health care, home nursing, medical supplies and/or medical therapeutic services, just to mention a few. This program also assists in providing emergency alert responses.

Emergency alerts include Silver Alerts issued by local and state police authorities in connection with cases of missing elders afflicted with dementia, or of those prone to wandering as symptoms associated with dementia. Cases of missing persons particularly elders not returning during a normal outing, or of getting separated from their caregiver has been a growing concern in Florida.

In some cases, an ailing elder leaves home when experiencing feelings of agitation. Still, families of persons with a disability like dementia, are advised to take extra precaution by putting a human tracker device in the person of their elderly, all the time. The device is deemed as more advanced than most cellular GPS trackers, as they can broadcast location data of the wearer or carrier, even while in unreachable places.