50 Years On, Orleans Council On Aging Continues To Evolve

ORLEANS – In her 12 years leading the Orleans Council on Aging, Judi Wilson can tell you that a senior center today isn’t what it used to be.

 “When I first came in in 2012, people would come in wondering where the beds were,” she said. “Because any center that serves older adults, there must be beds, right?”

 Not quite. In fact, anyone who visits the town’s senior center on Rock Harbor Road might walk in to find yoga, tai chi and other exercise classes, or perhaps line dancing and Zumba. 

 Today’s councils on aging and senior centers reflect how seniors are more active and in tune with their health than past generations. There’s also a growing acceptance of what it means to age, minus many of the negative connotations that have historically followed getting older. 

 “People used to turn 60 and it was all ‘over the hill’ and black balloons,” Wilson said. “And it’s not that way anymore.”

 To be certain, much has changed and evolved in the realm of senior services since the council on aging first started in Orleans 50 years ago. Last week, the council hosted a week of programs and initiatives in celebration of its golden anniversary, culminating with an afternoon of games, food, music and demonstrations Saturday at the senior center.

 “For us, it’s a celebration of keeping up,” Wilson said of the significance of the council’s 50th anniversary. “It’s a celebration of the council on aging staying in touch with older adults in our community and continuing to evolve to meet their needs. Because needs have evolved and we have evolved.”

 Eleanor Blake, one of the council’s founders, had been a welfare worker for the town for many years, but recognized there was a greater need for more dedicated resources for the town’s senior population. In May 1974, voters at town approved articles to create the council on aging and provide it with its initial funding.

 The council rented space at 12 Main St. for its first few years of operation. In 1979, a land donation was made to the town by Orleans resident Ruth Watson that eventually became the site of the senior center, which opened its doors in 1981. An addition was made to the building in 2000.

 For Wilson, who has also led councils on aging in Falmouth, Chatham and Harwich, senior services are first and foremost about people. That’s how she first became involved in the work, beginning with Elder Services of Cape Cod and the Islands when she moved to the Cape in the 1980s.

 “I like older people,” she said. “I had a wonderful relationship with my grandmother growing up, and I just really liked it.”

 That people-centric philosophy has driven the council and senior center’s work under Wilson’s stewardship, and she said the council and senior center have worked to creatively meet the changing needs of the town’s senior population, which is one of the highest in the state.

 With that comes the recognition that the term “senior” today comprises many different things. Some people want exercise and fitness, while others enjoy the socialization offered through the center’s programming. 

 “Everybody thinks that a senior citizen is a senior citizen,” Wilson said. “But 60 isn’t 70, isn’t 80, isn’t 90. It’s like a multigenerational group, which makes my job kind of exciting. We’re really programming for different generations, not one generation.”

Others enjoy the informational discussions and sessions hosted and coordinated at the center, including some on subjects that Wilson said were once considered “taboo.”

 “We now have programs on death and dying,” she said. “We have programs on getting your affairs in order. People want to talk about it now, and people didn’t want to talk about it.”

 One area that’s been a particular point of emphasis for the council and senior center staff has been helping seniors better acclimate to using laptops, smartphones and other day-to-day technology. The town is working on a digital equity plan designed to help bring seniors up to speed with using devices that have increasingly become essential. 

 Wilson said the need for technological services became apparent at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, when vaccinations were first rolled out online. But some seniors in the community lacked the experience with using computers and phones to do things such as register for events, make purchases or make appointments, she said.

 “My father in law is 84 years old,” she said. “His barber retired, so he needs to go get his haircut. You need an appointment. How do you make the appointments now at the barber shop? Online.”

  Statistics provided by the council show that efforts to engage and evolve with local seniors are working. The council served a total of 1,194 seniors in  fiscal 2024, a figure Wilson said does not include non-residents that also enlisted the council’s services. The council also provided 4,354 bus rides and an additional 103 volunteer rides to seniors last year.

 Wilson said those figures show how the council and senior center need to keep planning for how to keep up with the demands of the local senior population in the future.  

 “All of us who work here now probably won’t be here in 15 years, so we want to make sure that we’ve done a good job of looking at where we are now, but also in the future,” she said.

 Discussions have been ongoing about the future of the senior center building, which has been subject to flooding in the past. Wilson said she doesn’t see the need to expand the building’s footprint, but talk around the construction of a new community center could offer an opportunity for the center and the council to grow into the future, she said.

 “If we’re talking about a community center, we should be part of the conversation,” she said.

 But while it’s important to look ahead,  Saturday represented an opportunity for staff and visitors to celebrate what’s been accomplished through the council and center to date. The event included a “Chowderfest,” where seven local restaurants competed for the bragging rights of best chowder in town. There were also fitness demos, a bouncy house and face painting for kids and live music courtesy of Sarah Burrill and the Bart Weisman Jazz Trio.

 More than a celebration of the council and the senior center, Wilson said last weekend’s celebration was also about the many people who continue to serve the town’s seniors.

 “Everybody loves their job,” she said. “They love being here. We love the people that we serve. And that’s so important to me. That’s everything.”