Parks and Rec is Transforming the Lives of Older Adults (and Vice Versa) — Episode 020

May is Older Americans Month and park and recreation agencies
play a crucial role in serving older adult populations.


According to NRPA’s 2018 Agency Performance Review, 41 percent of
park and recreation agencies have one or more senior centers and
79 percent offer programs specifically designed for older
adults.  


NRPA supports this work through our Healthy Aging in Parks
initiative — part of which includes a grant program for
evidence-based arthritis intervention programs which are funded
with the support of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC).


These programs are remarkable. The individual grants are not
large, but they are producing seriously impressive results as
they allow agencies to provide new programming for their older
adults.


In this episode, we speak with Mr. Joe Trevino, a 93-year-old
veteran, and Irma Yepez-Perez, a Senior Management Analyst at the
City of Fresno PARCS department. What we learn from them is that
community is vital to our health and wellbeing and that
inspiration can be found everywhere.