San Diego is home to one of the fastest growing older-adult populations in California. By 2030, one in four San Diegans will be 60 or older, and currently, nearly 22% of San Diego County seniors live alone.
Together with the growing prevalence of mobility issues and shrinking transportation access that often come with aging, this creates a troubling pathway to isolation for many seniors. Even basic activities — like medical appointments, grocery shopping and social visits — become difficult or impossible. The loss of mobility often means the loss of independence.
At the San Diego Seniors Community Foundation, we have been studying how emerging mobility solutions could better support older adults through partnerships with transportation leaders and researchers. The question is not whether the technology is impressive. It is whether we are intentional about connecting it to the places that matter most in seniors’ daily lives: senior centers, medical offices, grocery stores and neighborhood gathering spaces…