LSA's Community Vision
Aging is a non-linear journey that looks different from person to person. Chronic conditions can flare and subside. Physical compromise may occur in one area of functioning, but be strong and healthy in others. Cognitive decline can be rapid but more often is subtle and gradual. Individuals may have accidents or become seriously ill but then return to fair functioning after medical intervention.
The context for aging also looks different from person to person. Each person's life course is shaped by variables that include socioeconomic realities, family circumstances, ethnicity, geography, and personal preferences. Individuals have different visions of aging well and those visions inform myriad preferences – about where, how and with whom they live, how they spend time and resources, about how much risk they are willing to take in order to maintain independence, and about how and by whom they hope their needs will be met as need arises. Whatever the preferences, people hold tight to the hope that others will respect and honor them to the greatest extent possible throughout life’s journey.
Those different contexts, preferences and the nonlinear nature of aging, have profound implications for how communities and systems of supports and services should be designed. Communities that are nimble and responsive to the diversity of choice that its members seek, that actually delight in serving their diverse aging members well, and that within the reality of limited resources make maximal choice accessible to all, are where people thrive as they age because the right supports at the right time allow them to remain valued, contributing members for as long as possible.
Moving our communities toward this kind of nimble responsiveness is a major challenge and opportunity. We have a ways to go in our efforts to achieve communities where aging people have clear and easy access to the right supports at the right time, where people’s preferences are taken seriously at every stage of the aging process, and where everyone remains a contributing member for as long as possible. Fragmentation, gaps and obstacles in existing systems contribute to reduced quality of life, unnecessary health problems, premature disability and debilitating isolation. And it is still too common for ageism and patronizing attitudes to shape the ways in which supports and services are offered.
Collectively, Lutheran organizations already constitute a powerful presence in our nation’s aging services. They provide a vast array of supports and services, including independent and assisted living communities, skilled nursing care, diverse long term care options, affordable housing, adult day services, adult foster care, dementia care, rehabilitation services, senior center programs, personal care and in-home non-medical support services, respite and companion services, and behavioral health and counseling, to name just some. Further, LSA and its members are engaged in and play leadership roles in aging services coalitions across the country and their work is enriched by relationships with local congregations.
By increasing its capacity to identify and spread effective programs through its system of member organizations, LSA is poised to shape the future of aging in this country.