Phillip Reese and Dorothy Korber

Aug. 7, 2008 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- Bakers rejoice: A lot more people are going to need huge birthday cakes.

The number of Sacramento metropolitan area residents over 85 has jumped 50 percent since 2000 -- more than triple the rate of growth for the region's other age groups and higher than state and nationwide averages, according to U.S. census estimates released today.

Almost 35,000 people in Yolo, Placer, El Dorado and Sacramento counties now face the daunting task of attempting to blow out more than 85 candles. Carl Vigren is one of them.

"It took me a long time just to be 18 and get my driver's license," said the 89-year-old Sacramento resident, by way of explaining what it feels like to hang in there long past his own predictions.

Experts explain the local trend simply: a wave of people who chose to retire in the sunny and affordable Central Valley during the past 30 years never left. And modern medicine has kept them alive.

The figures do pose complications for the region. Health care costs for the very old are high. For instance, total inpatient hospital charges for Sacramento metro residents over 85 last year were about $507 million, according to a Bee analysis of hospital discharge data. The median cost of a hospital stay for a person over 85 was almost $34,000 -- roughly 40 percent higher than the average for all other age groups combined.

Also, the very old often need transportation to get to a doctor or a store. Sometimes they outlive their savings. And they're frequently struggling to deal with life after a spouse or other loved one dies -- even their own children.

"The 85-and-over age group is of great concern to us -- they are the most frail and they utilize the most services," said Dee Anna Lee, executive director of the local Area Agency on Agency, which serves seven local counties. "And we see a threefold increase in this age group over the next 30 years or so. We already have waiting lists for services -- we don't have the infrastructure, we don't have the services."

Life at age 85 can be bittersweet, several local residents said. You feel blessed to have faced so many days, but you are usually doing so without the partner you spent most of your life with. You are happy that there are so many new medical treatments, but chronic conditions still gnaw at you constantly.

"I used to walk -- up to several months ago," said August J. Francesconi, 91. "But without help, it was a struggle just to get to the dining area."

Francesconi, a bespectacled man in a green cardigan and plaid shirt, lives at Greenhaven Estates, a senior community in Sacramento. A former state worker, he still enjoys life and its little entertainments: Drinking juice with friends. Wearing the cap from Italy his kids brought back from a recent trip. Hearing an afternoon banjo concert.

He came to Greenhaven Estates in 2002; his wife had died long before, in 1978. The catalyst for the move was "a couple of falls."

"I was alone," he said. "I have three children, and they all were working out of town."

Sitting near Francesconi was Maxine Overstreet. Neatly coifed, Overstreet smiled her nice smile when asked her exact age -- "all the guys here are always asking," she said. But she allows that 85 is pretty close. Her husband died about a decade ago.

"I still wanted to live in my house, but it was so lonely," she said. "I just couldn't take it."

So she came to Greenhaven. Her story is typical for Sacramento. Women tend to live longer than men -- there are roughly twice as many women over 85 in the region as men in the same age group.

Overstreet has almost always lived in town, staying a long time in the house her grandmother owned. She wonders sometimes how she got to this point.

"You don't think about it," she said. "Time flows. And all of a sudden you are there."

Some of the very old do manage to live on their own and relish that independence. Bim Feinberg, 89, retired from his job in a Bay Area steel mill 30 years ago and still has his own apartment in Fair Oaks.

Feinberg considers himself a lucky man. Not only does he live on his own, but he still drives his own car, cooks his own meals and goes out dancing three times a week.

Feinberg has seen recession and inflation, he's seen costs rise and rise, but he said his generation is thrifty.

"We learned a lot by living through the Depression -- it taught us how to conserve," said the Sacramento High School alum, class of '37. "I watch what I spend."

Personal income is a worry for some of the very old, however. Younger retirees have the option of going back to work -- but that's not an option for most 85-year-olds.

As pensioners move into their 90s and beyond, some simply run out of money. "Financial planners and insurance company tables didn't project that far out," Lee said. "As a result, a lot of people didn't save enough and will use up their resources long before their deaths."

It costs about $3,500 a month to stay at a typical assisted-living community. A nursing home costs more than $5,000 a month. Those costs can burn through savings.

"Paying for care is one of the biggest challenges with folks," said Lynette Tidwell, vice president of community relations for Eskaton, which runs nursing homes, assisted living centers and retirement communities. "Medicare is not the all-ending answer."

It can take a lot of resources to keep someone alive to a very old age -- resources that several community leaders said are already stretched thin.

"Look at the issue of transportation services alone," Lee said. "People over 85 have real mobility issues -- just getting the groceries home can be overwhelming. They need door-to-door transportation. We don't have those services today -- how are we going to offer them in the future?"

Eugene Gazzolo, 88, manages to accomplish daily tasks with the help of his caregiver, Marcia Vela, who comes five days a week to his big home outside Auburn at a cost of $176 a day.

Gazzolo lost his wife last year. As a Placer County resident, he lives in the heart of the boom -- the number of residents over 85 in his county has jumped more than 80 percent since 2000, driven largely by retirement communities like Lincoln's Sun City.

"I'd rather stay home than go into assisted living, but I'll play it by ear," said Gazzolo, a World War II veteran who retired to the Valley after years as a hospital personnel director in Cupertino.

Vela said her job with elderly clients like Gazzolo gets tougher as time passes.

"The rough part is getting emotionally involved with them -- they're senior citizens, after all," she said. "You lose them."

Vela and other caregivers may worry about losing individual clients, but they don't need to worry about job security. The state Department of Finance predicts the population over 85 will jump nearly 40 percent again by 2020.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0178-27232912