Journal-News.com

BUTLER COUNTY — After Jim Leugers joined Senior Citizens Inc., he asked friends in their 60s and 70s if they wanted to join, too.

But they weren't interested.

"They would say they're not that old and they're not ready for that,'' said Leugers, who plays golf, poker and pool at the agency's facilities in Hamilton and West Chester.

"Their image of senior citizens is a rest home, which it is not.''

The words senior citizen is such a turn off to older adults, Senior Citizens Inc. on Monday changed its name to Partners in Prime.

"Senior Citizens Inc. is in its mid-50s. It's ready for an early retirement,'' joked Steve Schnabl, executive director of Partners in Prime.

The agency has provided services and activities to older adults in Butler County since 1953.

But it only serves 4,000 or 10 percent of the more than 47,000 adults 60 and older in the county.

Schnabl hopes the new name will change that.

"We recognized that describing ourselves with the senior citizen label is a turn off for the people we assist and decided to take that by the horn,'' Schnabl said. "We wanted an identity that talks about the potential of that group and do away with the negativity.''

Ohio Association of Area Agencies on Aging officials said agencies statewide are changing their approach to older adults.

OAAAA Director Larke Recchie said baby boomers have redefined the golden years and are healthier and more active and than the previous generation.

She said agencies are changing their names, literature and programs to better meet their needs.

Kathy Keller, a spokeswoman for AARP Ohio, agreed.

"There's a resistance that I am who I was before. I'm still doing what I've been doing,'' Keller said. "But people haven't caught up to that yet.''

Contact this reporter at (513) 696-4542 or tlatta@coxohio.com.