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St. Louis County proclaims Oct. 9 Ageism Awareness Day, highlights Age‑Friendly work
Summary
The St. Louis County Board of Commissioners proclaimed Oct. 9, 2025, Ageism Awareness Day and heard presentations from county public health staff and regional partners about Age‑Friendly initiatives, emergency preparedness for older adults and an upcoming Age‑Friendly summit.
The St. Louis County Board of Commissioners on Oct. 7 proclaimed Oct. 9, 2025, as Ageism Awareness Day and received a series of briefings on county and regional efforts to make communities more age‑friendly.
The proclamation noted St. Louis County Public Health’s work with seven communities (Bowaback, Chisholm, Duluth, Hibbing, Mountain Iron, Virginia and Balkan Township) that have earned recognition as Age‑Friendly and cited the county’s advanced recognition from Trust for America’s Health. Commissioners invited community partners to present and took a group photo with presenters at the close of the segment.
Cheryl Elge, program coordinator in the Aging Adult Health Unit at St. Louis County Public Health, summarized the unit’s outreach and education work and described materials the division is distributing at presentations and tabling events. “We’ve created folders to hand out at presentations and tabling events with information on what to do in an emergency, along with showcasing go bag examples for adults and pets,” Elge said.
Georgia Lane of the Arrowhead Area Agency on Aging described the Age‑Friendly Network work at a regional level and invited commissioners and staff to an Age‑Friendly Exchange summit on Nov. 3 in Chisholm. “When we’re talking about housing and transportation and public infrastructure, we don’t want to think about aging as something that happens to other people. It’s happening to all of us and we want to look at solutions across generations,” Lane said.
Board members and staff emphasized that ageism prevention spans housing, transportation, employment, health services and emergency planning. Commissioners thanked public health staff and partners for a countywide emergency‑preparedness grant focused on older adults and for efforts to integrate an aging lens into emergency planning.
The presentations also included descriptions of a planned support group addressing ambiguous loss in partnership with Lakeview Behavioral Health and outreach to help older adults join the AARP Age‑Friendly Network of States and Communities.
Chair Commissioner Harla said the proclamation and presentations were intended to acknowledge long‑standing partnerships and to encourage continued work across county departments and with regional partners. The board then recessed for the next agenda item.
The county provided the proclamation and presentation materials to commissioners; staff said printed folders with emergency guidance were available for board members.
