Council on Aging wins state senior services award

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The Chatham County Council on Aging has secured prestigious recognition for its services to the county’s senior population.

The county received the Ernest B. Messer Award, given to communities for excellence in addressing the needs of its elder citizens, at the board of commissioners meeting Monday night. Joyce Massey Smith, the director of the N.C. Division of Aging and Adult Services, presented a plaque to Dennis Streets, executive director of the COA.

“Our country is aging and our state is aging,” Smith said. “There will be more people in 2019 over the age of 60 than between birth and 17. It’s a huge thing to think about.”

In response to that trend, Smith said, Chatham County and the COA stepped up, creating a comprehensive aging plan, gathering nearly 300 volunteers and establishing a database for home modification and repair. The county also saw the fourth-highest jump in the state in participation in the N.C. Senior Games over the last year.

“Chatham County is clearly a community that excels in meeting the needs of its elder citizens,” Smith said. “The leadership in the Council on Aging has really stood out to us over the last few years.”

Streets, in brief remarks, said the recognition was a “meaningful” award.

“It isn’t an award to an individual or a single organization,” he said, “but to a community.”

The award is named for former 10-term state legislator Ernest B. Messer, who served as Assistant Secretary of the Division of Aging from 1981-1985 and helped develop the Senior Games. According to a joint resolution from the N.C. General Assembly commemorating his life after his death in 1997, Messer “was instrumental in sponsoring legislation benefiting senior citizens” during his time in Raleigh.”