Brave New Boomers

Jurisdictions are also hiring retrofit specialists and contemplating programs to teach seniors how to modify their homes so they can continue to live in them -- the preference of 89 percent of seniors surveyed by the AARP last year. "They all tell us they want to stay in their homes as long as possible," said Elinor Ginzler, director of livable communities for AARP

Hard for Some to Slow Down

Recently, Woodbridge resident Catherine Herald, 56, sat down over lunch with her mother, Margaret Dunn, 81, and brought up a familiar concern: how it's hard for her mother to admit that she needs to slow down.

It's the kind of topic usually discussed at the kitchen table. But these two were lunching at the senior center in Woodbridge, which they both attend.

Because people are living longer, Prince William -- which had the third-fastest-growing population of those 65 and over in the country, according to the Brookings study -- is experiencing a new phenomenon: two generations of a family using its services, said Courtney Tierney, director of the county's agency on aging.

Across the region, jurisdictions are struggling to attract younger boomers, many of whom won't need their help for years, while expanding some services for older residents. Officials say programs that provide personal care or home cleaning have long waiting lists, for example, and are going to be further squeezed in years to come. In Maryland, for example, more than 2,200 people are on a waiting list for help from its Senior Care program, which provides medical and other services for frail, low-income seniors.

Herald's mother is still energetic, Herald said, but she fell in the bathtub recently. Although she now makes sure to bathe only when her husband is home, she has refused her daughters' offers to install grab bars.

"I got her a handicapped sticker for her car the other day, and she had a fit," Herald confided.

Dunn ignored her, jumping up to demonstrate how vigorous she is by touching her toes.

"They fuss at me; they want me to be handicapped," Dunn said. "I'm old in age but not in years. . . . I bowl twice a week, dance and do yoga."