Fifty years on, Betty Pitzer’s vision has not only been maintained, it has thrived. From its beginning as Elderly United to its current incarnation as United Senior Services, Clark County adults 55 and older have a resource for promoting healthy aging.
United Senior Services will celebrate its past, present and future with a community open house, 3-6 p.m. Friday, July 20 at its center at 125 W. Main St.
The event will include appetizers, live entertainment, information on USS programs and the chance to explore the new facility, which opened in 2016.
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“This will be a celebratory day. We’re one of the few agencies like this in the state of Ohio and we would love the community to celebrate it with us,” said Stephanie Clark, United Senior Services Director of Development.
USS has five area satellite locations and services that include serving 500 meals a day to seniors in need.
Clark said since moving to the new location, membership has doubled.
“This age group is lot more active than people thought,” she said. “We have lots of activities and 55 is still young.”
Clark credits the quality of the programs, staff and need in the community for its longevity, and added by 2038, 28 percent of Clark County’s population will be age 60 or older and its services could be even more in demand.
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USS Executive Director and CEO Maureen Fagans said the future seems to be arriving quicker.
“What we’re learning is we’re constantly evolving more than we were five, 10, even 30 years ago,” she said. “Our focus hasn’t changed.”
Many of the center’s offerings target active lifestyles. These include a fitness center with equipment for seniors, and one of the most popular fitness classes is a warm-water aquatics class in the center’s pool.
The center also offers learning programs in the arts, astronomy and more, and supported by local colleges.
The organization began 50 years ago with just an office in the Cole Manor Apartments building on S. Burnett Rd. It later moved to the basement of the Shawnee Hotel until the early 1980s before going to the Myers Market building on S. Fountain Ave.
The new location is ideal in that it also sponsors public programs including dances and exhibitions from groups like Project Jericho.
Fagans said a misperception is one needs to be a USS member to access its services, which include meals, in-home services, transportation and other opportunities.
USS will face its county-wide levy later this fall, which is important as federal grants make up about 28 percent of its annual budget, which has been flat for 12 years and the levy provides a match if passed.
Fagans wants anyone who uses the services or may in the future to know USS is ready for them.
“We get as much reward as the people we’re serving,” she said.
For more information about USS, go to www.unitedseniorservices.org/.
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