'Successful Aging In Greendale' Organization Wins State Award

GREENDALE, WI — Successful Aging in Greendale For Everyone (SAGE) and one of its members, Marilyn Lange, won the Wisconsin Institute for Healthy Aging (WIHA) 2021 Healthy Aging STAR Above and Beyond Award, the July village newsletter said.

The SAGE Workgroup works to support seniors and caregivers in the community through innovative ideas to promote healthy and productive lives for older Greendale residents, according to its mission statement. The organization has recently installed benches and signs along walking paths, applied to the Dementia Friendly America Network, provides memory screenings and more, its website said.

The SAGE Workgroup works with the Greendale Health Department to achieve its goals and is made up of volunteers from around the village. The organization won the WIHA award for its "outstanding contributions to improving health and wellness for older adults in their community," according to the July village newsletter.

Lang serves as the coordinator of SAGE's dementia subcommittee for which she gives presentations on the disease and writes a regular newsletter, according to the village newsletter.

A letter penned by then Village Board of Trustees President Jim Birmingham alongside a plan of action detailed the village's ideas in 2019 on how to make Greendale "an even better place to live, work and age in place."

The plan states that the village is already showing a trend seen nationwide — older adults will eventually outnumber children for the first time in American history. Demographics from Greendale show that the village is already on par with this trend, according to the plan.

The plan lays out the key ways to confront the issues that may arise from that fact.

Outdoor spaces, transportation, social participation, communication and community support are among the key findings of the plan.

The pandemic has brought some of SAGE's initiatives to a halt, though — only after 18 months of inactivity will the Greendale Memory Café be returning. The café is a place where individuals in the early stages of memory loss can find an enjoyable social experience alongside their care partners, Patch previously reported.

The initiative was the first of its kind in Milwaukee County, the report said.