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The 65 and older population is growing in Forsyth County

In this AP file photo, Meals on Wheels delivery driver Pasquale Fabbricatore, 66, delivers meals to homebound senior Louise Delija, 93, during the coronavirus pandemic, in the Brooklyn borough of New York in May, 2020. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey)

Forsyth County's senior citizen population is growing. 

According to U.S. Census Bureau estimates, the number of residents 65 and over rose by about 9,000 people just in the five year period between 2014 and 2019. They now make up about 16 percent of the county's overall population.

In addition to older folks moving here, people in the area are staying healthy. 

That's according to Linda Lewis, the associate executive director of the Shepherd's Center of Greater Winston-Salem, an interfaith ministry for aging individuals. She says this may have to do with our health care systems. 

“I think because of good health care, people are living longer, well into their eighties, nineties and beyond, and that too is contributing to this shift of older adults,” she says.

There are many reasons seniors say they like the area. A study by Forsyth Futures found that older people's positive feelings about the area include the availability of food options, their ability to influence decision-making, and an overall sense of safety.

Paul Garber is a Winston-Salem native and an award-winning reporter who began his journalism career with an internship at The High Point Enterprise in 1993. He has previously worked at The Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The News and Record of Greensboro and the Winston-Salem Journal, where he was the newspaper's first full-time multimedia reporter. He won the statewide Media and the Law award in 2000 and has also been recognized for his business, investigative and multimedia reporting. Paul earned a BA from Wake Forest University and has a Master's of Liberal Arts degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Master's of Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Lewisville.

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