Age Friendly community - an update. Palmetto Bay is the 156th community to be accepted in the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities.

Palmetto Bay moves on in the next step toward being recognized as an "Age Friendly" Community.

I want to congratulate our residents who have asked for as well as those who have participated in this effort to make Palmetto Bay a Village for all ages!.  

Palmetto Bay is the 156th community to be accepted in the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities.  This was the next step in getting to the Age Friendly Community designation and we are continuing to work towards that effort.

Though our Palmetto Bay application was formally submitted on March 16, 2017, this has been a long process started under the initial council and continued to move forward over several administrations. 

We started our parks programs in our initial Village Parks Master Plans. Our future Community Center will be a hub of programming for all ages, including Senior programming (Thank you to Council Members David Singer and Larissa Siegel Lara for the ongoing support for the purchase and design of the grounds for the Center).  

Other efforts that move us forward to inclusion relate back to 2012, where, as a response to numerous requests for increase in park programming for Senior Citizens, the Parks department hosted a ten week summer program called, "Senior Sampler". The "Senior Sampler" program ran for 10 weeks and included a variety of activities; Music Therapy, Arts & Crafts, Gold Zumba, Seminars and Lectures, Yoga, Tai Chi and Aerobics. The Village Council has formed several Committees and appointed members of the community to serve; giving them an opportunity to work in collaboration to determine priorities and recommend strategies to achieve a common goal. The Village partnered with Baptist Health in 2011 to offer exercise classes geared towards older adults at Coral Reef Park. 

Other programs offered throughout the year are Gardening workshops, lectures and seminars in partnership with East Ridge (sessions on Aging and Eating to Avoiding the Fall), Bird Watching, Yoga by the Bay, and Photography Workshops.

Credit for most of the information posted above from (CLICK HERE to view) - World Health Organization, Age-Friendly World