Walkability helps older adults stay healthy, studies say

The speed limit is 25 mph in front of Elizabeth Grein's house in Kent, but at times you'd never know it. Drivers use her street as a shortcut and sometimes take the corner so fast she has almost been hit twice going to the mailbox.

"We don't have sidewalks, and so I don't feel safe walking," says Grein, 70, who has had two knee replacements since she retired from various jobs and from volunteering in the public school district.

In contrast, Fordie Ross goes on a three- to four-mile walk almost daily around his Beacon Hill neighborhood, where every street has sidewalks and intersections have stop signs.

"Safe? Oh, yes. I've never had any safety problems," says the 93-year-old Ross, a retired food-bank director who wears a hearing aid.

Such dramatically different attitudes about taking a simple walk matter a lot these days as the nation wrestles with one of its biggest public-health challenges: how to keep older adults healthy, active and living independently at home as long as they can.

Until now, the main strategy has been through programs that emphasize exercise, nutrition and managing chronic disease. Or to fit a home with so-called universal-design features such as bathtub grab bars.

But studies are starting to show a neighborhood's walkability — how well its streets connect and whether it has sidewalks, nearby shopping and welcoming public places — helps or hinders how well its residents age.

"We're pretty confident at this point that a part of healthy aging is independence and actually being able to get places without relying on other people," said Larry Frank, an expert on urban land use and an associate professor at the University of British Columbia. Frank is helping complete several research studies on the link between physical activity and neighborhoods in King County.

The connection between environment and function in older adults is prompting collaborations across the country — among urban planners, university researchers, public-health officials and citizen activists. What's happening in the Puget Sound area is at the heart of the effort.

"We've come to the conclusion if you build things so that people can live their whole lives in a place and still be active, then you don't have to retrofit and rebuild and start all over again," said Rosemary Cunningham, strategic planning manager with the city of Seattle's Aging and Disability Services.

Making changes

Real change, however early or small, is occurring in places such as Bainbridge Island, where the City Council is starting to write standards that look at everything from the width of sidewalks and streets to how close buildings can be to curbs.

Priority will be placed on connecting streets to each other so people can actually walk, rather than drive, to destinations such as the grocery store.

The city has installed new highway signs that read "Bainbridge Shares the Road," with illustrations that encourage drivers to watch out for pedestrians, cyclists, equestrians and people using wheelchairs.

"If you design things for people with difficulties, you're actually making them work for everybody," said Bainbridge activist Don Willott, a member of the non-motorized transportation advisory committee. "A runner benefits from a sidewalk that doesn't dip down at driveways, the same as someone using a walker."

In Seattle, the redeveloped Northgate neighborhood — home to a few retirement communities — will be safer to walk. A new, 141-unit senior residence will be connected by pathways to retail shops and the transit center. The perspective of older adults and children also will be included in the city's soon-to-be written pedestrian master plan.

But even so, "We've got a lot more to do to make the city accessible," said Seattle City Councilman Tom Rasmussen.

Moving more

Twice last year, for a full week each time, Elizabeth Grein and Fordie Ross wore pager-sized devices on their hips that recorded their every step — from walking to the fridge to getting the mail and going to the grocery store.

They also had to keep logs and answer questions about their emotions and attitudes about aging, exercise and work around the house.

It was all part of a four-year research project involving about 1,000 older adults in the King County and Baltimore areas and funded by the National Institutes of Health.

The goal is to find out whether seniors who live in walkable communities are more physically able to get out of the house and, once they're outside, have a destination they can get to safely.

"The more we can understand about this interplay between people's neighborhood and their health behavior, the more we'll be able to optimize neighborhoods," said Abby King, the study's principal investigator and a professor at Stanford University.

Stanford is conducting the study along with San Diego State University and the University of Washington. Larry Frank's team is a major collaborator.

Grein says if her Kent neighborhood had sidewalks, she probably would get out and walk. But just participating in the study has helped.

"If I want to live a better quality of life, I've got to move more," she said. "Nobody can give that one to you. You have to work for it."

So she exercises more inside, has started gardening and hopes to participate in a fundraising walk.

Ross simply expects to keep up the good work. He has been sick in bed only two days in his life and expects to feel as fine tomorrow as he did today.

Besides the exercise, walking gives him an excuse to scope out the neighbors' yards and chat with them along the way.

"Ninety percent of the people I observe are friendly. ... And you know it makes your walking easier, because it takes the task off your mind," he said.

Marsha King: 206-464-2232 or mking@seattletimes.com