Within this broad category, there are a variety of ongoing efforts supportive of better quality of life outcomes for older Coloradans. We explore two of the most important below: Colorado’s Area Agencies on Aging and Adult Protective Services.
Area Agencies on Aging: Colorado’s Area Agencies on Aging serve as local, centralized hubs for older adult services and supports. As a result, this preexisting network of community providers is key to offering both the opportunities and information necessary to foster higher quality of life outcomes for older Coloradans. Importantly, the services offered within this system are local and derived directly from community-identified needs, allowing for tailored area-specific solutions. We talk more about how to better support this lever on the Community of Choice page.
Adult Protective Services: Adult Protective Services (APS) is responsible for investigating various types of abuse (including physical, emotional, sexual, and financial) against at-risk adults. As seen in the graph below, our state has seen a growing number of APS cases over the past several years, which have, notably, outpaced program funding.
Concerningly, a historic lack of funding for APS services has been cited as a problem in our ability to keep up with reported need. In the coming years, we can assess the strength of this system, in part, by examining how funding keeps up with our demographic changes and the number of reported APS cases.