AURORA | We are in the midst of a “silver tsunami,” demographers say. Colorado, as part of that trend, will see residents age 65 and older increase by 123 percent by 2030,  according to the Bell Policy Center.

The latest U.S. Census data on the subject from 2010 said Aurora’s population age 65 and older makes up 8.9 percent of the city’s residents at 29,063 people.

Ron DeVries, who is on the board of directors with Aurora Health Access, said since that data was released — and thanks to an increasingly expensive Denver housing market pushing people to the suburbs — Aurora’s senior population has grown substantially over the past six years.

“There is also the aging of our neighborhoods,” he said. “Homebuyers who bought homes in the 1940s or 1950s when Aurora was first developed,  and have been in their homes all this time and are aging into that demographic.”

DeVries heads the Aurora Health Access workgroup “Senior Circle,” which focuses on the needs of Aurora’s seniors and the resources available to meet those needs.

Started in 2014, Senior Circle is the organization’s newest and largest workgroup at around 100 members,  said DeVries.

DeVries said Senior Circle is a little different because it’s not specifically focused on increasing access to and enrollment in Medicaid programs like AHA’s other workgroups. 

Senior Circle, which meets monthly, focuses on several issues affecting seniors. Recently, its members looked at affordable oral care for seniors in Aurora.

“People don’t realize Medicare doesn’t pay for oral health,” said Denise Denton, the executive director of AHA. “Seniors are the most uninsured age group when it comes to dental services. We brought in organizations from many different oral health services and put together a guide to affordable oral health services for seniors in Colorado.” 

According to the guide, people over 60 years old in the Denver metro area report having difficulty achieving the oral health they need. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reports that nationally, many older Americans do not have dental insurance, and 23 percent of 65- to 74-year-olds have severe gum disease.

The AHA guide details how seniors can access Medicaid to help pay for dental coverage and also gives a list of affordable nearby dental services that include The Community College of Denver, Metro Community Provider Network and University of Colorado School of Dental Medicine.

Denton said the purpose of Senior Circle is to address these kinds of quality-of-life gaps that exist for seniors living in Aurora.

“If there’s a gap, we work with city and and state leaders to fix it,” she said.

Senior Circle is largely compromised of senior service providers based in Aurora, but Denton said it is open to interested Aurora residents as well.

“These meetings happen at different senior facilities around Aurora. Anyone can attend,” she said.

To learn more, visit www.aurorahealthaccess.org or email admin@aurorahealthaccess.org.

To see the AHA guide to senior oral health services, visit https://www.aurorahealthaccess.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Guide.Senior.Oral_.Health.pdf.