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Portland Is Best City for Senior Citizens Says New
Study
July 28, 2005 – Portland, Ore. is the best city in
the United States for senior living with Seattle, San Francisco,
Milwaukee and Pittsburgh rounding out the top five. Miami, Fla. ranked
among the worst, according to a new survey conducted for Bankers Life
and Casualty Company.
A panel of experts on gerontology and senior issues
identified the qualities for optimal senior living. Major categories
were: health, disease, economics, social, environment, spiritual,
transportation, housing, and crime. Each category was statistically
weighted to reflect the needs of the senior population.
"We find the survey results contain some cities we
don't often associate with senior living," said Bankers' Chief Operating
Officer Scott Perry.
"That's because we weren't looking for the best
places to be retired, but the best cities for seniors regardless of
whether they are retired, working, active or non, healthy or not. It's
about more than golf courses and tennis courts," he said.
Categories for the survey were suggested by Robert
Butler, M.D., President and CEO of the International Longevity Center,
New York; Joan Frankel, Senior Consultant of Health and Human Services,
Metro Chicago Information Center; and Susan Morisato, formerly Senior
Vice President of Product Management and Chief Actuary at Bankers. The
survey was conducted by veteran survey administrator Sperling's Best
Places and identified the top 50 metro areas in the U.S.
The categories
-
The Health category included criteria such as
physician to senior ratio, gerontologist to senior ratio, hospitals
per capita, and availability of adult day care, assisted living
facilities, continuing care (CCRC) facilities, independent living
facilities, nursing homes, and senior meals.
-
Housing included cost of living, median home
price, property taxes and monthly apartment rent.
-
Transportation included public transportation,
special access transportation, and commuting times.
-
Social included the percentage of seniors,
entertainment, the arts, museums, education, recreation, colleges,
and libraries.
-
Crime included violent crime and property
crime.
-
Environment included sunny days, clean air,
clean water, natural disaster risk, ocean coastline, rivers and
lakes, and national parks.
-
Economy included consumer prices, sales taxes,
unemployment rate, and recent job growth.
-
Disease included life expectancy, age 85
expectancy, depression rate, heart disease, and cancer rates.
-
Spiritual included percent of population
belonging to organized religions and the number of religious
congregations.
Bottom Five
Cities or metro areas ranking at positions 46-50
were: Riverside-San Bernardino, Cal., Orange County, Cal., Nassau and
Suffolk Counties, N.Y., Miami, Fla., and Bergen and Passaic Counties,
N.J. For a complete listing, visit Bankers online at
http://www.bankers.com/
About Bankers Life and Casualty Company
Established in 1879, Bankers is a subsidiary of
Conseco, Inc. Bankers focuses exclusively on the insurance needs of
seniors by offering a broad portfolio of health and life insurance and
retirement savings products designed especially for seniors. Visit
Bankers online at
http://www.bankers.com/ .
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