Home Growing pains
Virginia News

Growing pains

Contributors

Story by Chris Graham

Early 2010 Census projections have more than 20 percent of Rockingham County’s population in the 60-and-over category, a 20 percent jump from the 2000 Census. And it’s not like they all live just outside of the Harrisonburg city limits, either.

“No, they’re all over the county, in subdivisions outside of the city and off little country roads way out in the county,” said Cathie Galvin, the director of senior services in Harrisonburg and Rockingham for the Valley Program for Aging Services, which provides an array of human services to people 60 and older in Harrisonburg-Rockingham and throughout the Central Shenandoah Valley.

It’s tough enough for seniors who have issues with, say, transportation to the doctor’s office or grocery store, and live in a city setting. The problems multiply for those who live out of town and sometimes out of reach of the public-services infrastructure.

“One of the issues that we’re facing is we’re becoming a retirement location for people up North, people who were going to Florida and said, Isn’t this pretty, and decided to retire,” Galvin said.

“Some of those folks are used to having more public services than we have in this rural area of the state. So we’ll get calls to the office asking, Where do I catch the bus to get to the doctor’s office? And we don’t have that available in Rockingham County.

“They are used to paying a little bit higher taxes where they’re coming from, and they move here and expect to have these services, and they’re not here,” Galvin said.

An interesting growing pain for a locality to have to figure out, isn’t it?

Contributors

Contributors

Have a guest column, letter to the editor, story idea or a news tip? Email editor Chris Graham at [email protected]. Subscribe to AFP podcasts on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPandora and YouTube.

Latest News

How to Bet On the Daytona 500 in California
Sports

How to Bet On the Daytona 500 in California

ron sanchez uva basketball vt
Basketball, Sports

The tweak UVA Basketball coach Ron Sanchez would need if he were to get the job full time

One lesson Ron Sanchez could take with him into next year, if he, indeed, ends up getting the UVA Basketball job on a full-time basis after the season, would be, succession planning.

george mason
Basketball, Sports

George Mason rallies, beats Saint Joseph’s, to stay atop A-10 standings

George Mason took the lead for good on a Brayden O’Connor bucket with 1:18 to go, then got a couple of stops on defense to complete the 58-57 win over Saint Joseph’s, to maintain the lead in the A-10.

isaac mckneely uva basketball
Basketball, Sports

Five Observations: UVA Basketball gets more good offense in road win

Daytona 500 Odds, Picks, & How To Bet
NASCAR

Daytona 500 Odds, Picks, & How To Bet

uva basketball
Basketball, Sports

Live Coverage: UVA Basketball grits out 73-70 win at Virginia Tech

How To Bet On The Daytona 500 in Florida
Sports News

How To Bet On The Daytona 500 in Florida