Healthy Aging Month: Supporting Wellness at Every Age

Healthy aging is about more than medical care. It means having nutritious food, a safe and stable home, reliable transportation, meaningful relationships, and trusted people who can help navigate unfamiliar systems.

These supports are increasingly important in Eagle County. Today, 35% of residents are age 50 or older, and 12% are 65 or older. By 2035, residents over 65 are projected to represent more than 15% of the county’s population—nearly three times their share in 2010.

At the heart of MIRA’s work with older adults is our partnership with Caregiver Connections. Together, our teams help seniors and their caregivers find compassionate, coordinated support—from navigating complex health needs and identifying community resources to connecting families with caregiver education, respite, support groups, and services that make aging in place possible.

MIRA complements this work through its bilingual mobile resource center and trusted community health navigators. The team connects older adults with health screenings, insurance enrollment, food assistance, preventive care, financial resources, and referrals to local providers. When transportation, language, technology, or uncertainty creates a barrier, MIRA brings personalized support directly into the community.

That trust has produced meaningful results. Through a partnership with Impact Charitable’s Aging in Place initiative, MIRA helped 29 older adults receive $5,000 each for mortgage payments, property taxes, or critical home repairs—providing $145,000 in direct assistance. MIRA enrolled 91% of all eligible participants across Eagle and Garfield counties, helping longtime Latino and BIPOC homeowners remain safely in the communities they helped build.

The Community Market provides another essential piece of the healthy-aging puzzle: dependable access to nourishing food. Older adults can shop with dignity at our markets or receive senior food deliveries when health or transportation makes visiting a market difficult. A delivery of fresh produce, dairy, meat, and pantry staples offers more than nutrition—it provides reassurance, independence, and an important point of connection.

In addition to Caregiver Connections, MIRA and The Community Market collaborate with Eagle County Healthy Aging, Eagle County Public Health & Environment, Eagle County Paramedic Services, Mountain Family Health Centers, Vail Health, Colorado Mountain Medical, local senior living communities, and other partners to provide coordinated, whole-person support.

This collaborative approach advances Eagle County’s 2024–2029 Public Health Improvement Plan, which identifies older adults as a historically underserved population and prioritizes affordability, social connection, and access to quality physical and mental healthcare.

During Healthy Aging Month, we celebrate the older adults who have shaped our valley—and the donors and partners helping ensure they can continue to thrive here. Together, we are building a community where every neighbor can age with health, independence, dignity, and belonging.