Re: Questions re senior cohousing
From: Eris Weaver (eriswsonic.net)
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2005 09:42:19 -0800 (PST)
One of my questions/concerns about senior-only cohousing has to do with
workload. Here at FrogSong, a fairly mixed-age group that's been living
on-site about 18 months, there is a LOT of work. Some of it is fairly
physically demanding. We have enough people -- 50 adults -- so that if a
few people are out of commission (due to health, job, small kids,
whatever), there are enough to get everything done.

Our oldest member is 85. Up until recently, he's been very vigorous and
participatory. He recently had a stroke. There are now not only things
that he cannot do, but the time his care requires from his family (also
members) decreases the amount of time that THEY can contribute to the
community. 

Living in community is wonderful for people in situations like this -
there are other people who can help out, fill in the gaps, etc. When my
partner was temporarily disabled, living here was a godsend -- I don't
know how I would have done it living in a single-family home. 

But how many/what percentage of people with limited abilities could one
community sustain? Even if a senior cohousing started out with
relatively "young" and fit seniors, over time the amount of decreased
function and disability that can often come with age would increase and
thus the amount of energy/time/work that individuals contribute would
decrease. What would this look like over the long term? 

*******************************************
Eris Weaver                 erisw [at] sonic.net
FrogSong, Cotati, CA

"Let the beauty we love be what we do."
        -- Mevlana Jelaladin Rumi



Results generated by Tiger Technologies Web hosting using MHonArc.