02-21-2024 PTL - Flipbook - Page 16
16 A Special Advertising Section of Baltimore Sun Media Group | Wednesday, February 21, 2024
AGING
Longevity Ready Maryland
Preparing for the state’s
future population
By Margit B. Weisgal, Contributing Writer
J
ust over a year ago, Maryland’s newly elected governor appointed Carmel Life (CFL), a program to help older
Roques as the state’s Secretary of Aging. Roque’s background and the various jobs she’s had has led her to this position at the right time.
Half of 5-year-olds
in America today can
expect to live to 100
years old.
– Stanford Center
on Longevity
Roques has spent a majority of her
professional life figuring out how to
improve the lives of older adults as
they navigate the aging process. Most
recently, she spent 10 years as the
Chief Executive Office of Keswick MultiCare Center, a 138-year-old not-forprofit community health care provider,
by expanding its offerings to include
Keswick’s Wise & Well Center for
Healthy Living, designed as a place for
people ages 50 and up to pursue their
health and well-being goals. She also
partnered with Maryland’s Department
of Aging to implement Community for
adults age in place.
Thus, when she accepted Governor
Wes Moore’s invitation to head up the
Maryland Department of Aging (www.
aging.maryland.gov), she already had
a vision of what Maryland needed. “It’s
hard to imagine,” says Roques, “but
by 2034, adults over the age of 65 are
expected to outnumber children under
18 for the first time in U.S. history. That’s
why Longevity Ready Maryland, our
program to address this demographic,
was created.”
On January 3, 2024, Governor Moore
signed an executive order establishing
the Longevity Ready Maryland (LRM)
Initiative, directing the MDoA to prioritize the well-being of the state’s expanding and diverse 60+ year old population.
Admittedly, Maryland is not alone in
recognizing this growth spurt. According
to William J. Kole, author of The Big 100:
The New World of Super-Aging, “Brace
for a tectonic shift in Earth’s demographics over the next few decades.
More of us than ever before in human
history are achieving the exceptional
age of 100, 105, 110, or even older.”
Kole then cites a little-noticed United
Nations report: “All societies in the world
are in the midst of this longevity revolution.”
So, Roques is well-positioned to prepare Maryland for this unexpected population segment. “Professionally, this
was the best next step for me to take.
I recognized what was coming, so I’ve
been thinking of ways we could assist
people as early as possible for their
longevity needs. When I broached this
idea with the governor, he was all in. It
had to be a plan that could adapt, that
was flexible enough to address what
