[Old-timer Jack]

Posted: Jul 31, 2012 11:11 AM PDT
Updated: Jul 31, 2012 11:28 AM PDT
By Steve Kanigher, I-Team Reporter - email


Las Vegas ranks a lowly 87th among the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas when it comes to successful aging, according to a study released Tuesday from the Milken Institute.

The worst score for Las Vegas involves health care, where it ranks 95th. The metro area ranks dead last by having no hospitals with Alzheimer's units, a ranking that overlooked the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health downtown. But Milken also ranks Las Vegas 98th in the percentage of hospitals with geriatric services, 97th in the number of orthopedic surgeons, 96th in physical therapists, 90th in nurses, 88th in mental health professionals and 87th in the number of doctors overall.

Milken ranks Las Vegas 91st in living arrangements, which included a 98th place for number of nursing beds, 83rd in median rental prices, 81st in number of people providing home health care services and 71st in nursing home ratings.

Las Vegas also ranks poorly in community engagement, placing 81st. The metro area ranks dead last in senior volunteer rates, and 98th for both the number of public libraries and number of YMCAs. The one positive showing in this category is 4th best in number of museums and cultural amenities.

The metro area also ranks 60th in the wellness category, dragged down by 98th place for smoking, 96th in Medicare enrollment and 93rd in number of fitness centers.

"Cities need to be thinking about how best to make quality of life improvements for our rapidly growing senior populations, and such improvements benefit all age groups," said study participant Henry Cisneros, former U.S. housing and urban development secretary. "What the Milken Institute's index does for the first time is measure communities on the dimensions that matter most for seniors."

[von949]

Link?

[bledsoe3]

Originally Posted by von949

Link?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Squad_1971.JPG

[lvoc]

Best Cities for Successful Aging

Note however it ranked 46th for those above 65 and below 80.

These things never reveal sufficient of the works to get a good feeling for the integrity. Things like missing the Brain Center set off alarms. Others like low physician counts are well known...though that one is true throughout the west.

Categories like weather are also tricky. For those who will move it is probably half or two thirds of the value. For those who won't it is irrelevant.

[SoCalCpl2]

Also they are adding in things like the library and YMCA which there are lots of places that have neither.. And truly how many seniors actually go to the YMCA or the library....

The metro area also ranks 60th in the wellness category, dragged down by 98th place for smoking, 96th in Medicare enrollment and 93rd in number of fitness centers. How about people who do not need to enroll in Medicare (such as myself) or never use fitness centers... And if ya talking smoking that is everywhere....

83rd in median rental prices - HUH??? There are tons of places that have a worse median rental rate than Nevada....

The one positive showing in this category is 4th best in number of museums and cultural amenities. - Ok not sure about this for museums..Have been lots of other places that have more and varied museums.. Cultural amenities depends on what the populace likes....

[macgeek]

Las Vegas Scores Poorly as a Place for Seniors - | 8 News NOW

[Tek_Freek]

All the people I've met during our stay "up the hill" in SCA love it here.

[eventusstultorummagister]

The locals use blue hairs for slalom poles when they're driving around town juiced.

[Robustus]

Obviously the medical stuff is a huge negative for seniors.

But that said, there are many significant positives that I feel often fail to be considered, or at least, fail to be weighted properly, including:
- The climate
- Entertainment
- Restaurants/Buffets
- Very affordable SFRs and Condos
- Young housing stock (ie, little maintenance required)
- Lots of SFR communities with small yards (again, less maintenance)
- Mostly very easily driveable roads in great repair (unlike EVERYWHERE in the Northeast)
- Lots of sightseeing around the valley that doesn't require lots of walking
- Easy (and free) parking everywhere
- Vallet at all the big destinations

Climate, housing costs, medical stuff....that's all obvious. What these lists often fail to consider is all the stuff that adds up to a nice, easy, low-stress but still fun and entertaining day-to-day experience for people who aren't in their physical prime.

[Jukesgrrl]

How silly.

No.1 in "Large Metros" overall is Provo-Orem, Utah. One key item: there are only 34,500 people over 65 living there! I bet Provo's seniors are being treated well — comparatively speaking they hardly have any. The number of people over 65 in Pittsburgh, PA, one of the other cities in the Top Ten, is greater than the entire population of Metro Provo. Yet Provo is being compared to NYC, Boston, and Washington, DC, in addition to Pittsburgh?

One of their top scores is on how many of the metro's residents "walk to work." How many people over 65 even GO to work, let alone WALK to work? Gee, I bet Las Vegas got a crummy score on that factor. The other hilarious detail: Provo is listed as the metro with #1 enrollment in college. I guess so — it's the home of Brigham Young University. With an enrollment of 34,000, about one in every 15 people in Metro Provo is a BYU student and I can only imagine how many are employed by the university. Walking to work, no doubt.

Are people actually paid to organize these rankings?