Re: Elder Care In Community | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Craig Ragland (craigraglandgmail.com) | |
Date: Tue, 21 Mar 2006 10:31:27 -0800 (PST) |
Hi Caren, I think this is a HUGE issue where we, as a movement, can add a lot of value to our lives. At Songaia, a Seattle-area community of 13 units (tip of the hat to Sharon), we've been in a long-standing dialog about this, and have begun by focusing on acute health care (note: so far, none of our elders, six members are above 60 and one is 70, have long term issues that have called for special attention by the community). What Songaia does today is (1) have a care conference, in which everybody is invited to discuss the special needs of the member, (2) designate a specific support coordinator, (3) create a signup sheet to schedule specific support tasks, (4) expect the support coordinator to help the community provide the support (they bird-dog us, something we find is also required for our food program to thrive). Optionally, there may be support circles to help the person face the issue. Currently, we have one member who needs special support. She had a care conference (which I did not attend, though I have been to related ones for this member). The support coordinator has really been doing her job - she requested that my wife and I prepared one lunch and a dinner for that member on a night with no common meal. And a number of Songaians, including the kids, have spent some more time with her since she's been less mobile. I really like the idea of a community coop that might pool resources to better provide support and look forward to learning how other cohousing communities address this. The issue of aging members is one faced by many communities, both cohousing and beyond. This is perhaps most pressing for older communities, with long-term members. I understand, for example, that Twin Oaks (a shared-income community) is not interested in new members who are older. Cohousing has an advantage over some other forms of communities, in that we tend to have more resources and can often afford more. Cohousing has a disadvantage over some other forms of communities, in that we tend to rely more on individual resources and may not figure out ways to share quite so readily. In community, Craig On 3/21/06, Caren Albercook <calbercook [at] yahoo.com> wrote: > > several of our members are in precarious health. > I was talking with my neighbor last weekend and got a > vibrant look into her support needs and the fact that > she expects she'll have to leave us when her health > falters. I don't want that to happen and have been > talking with others about how to add elder care as a > dimension of our community living, to keep our older > members in community till the end. Some of us are talking about starting an > elder care coop to save money ahead for this coming > challenge. But some of us are talking about buying a > unit here with combined financial resources and > finding a couple to live rent free in exchange for > elder care. Maybe we'll even get to the point where > we can buy a van for those who can no longer drive. Has anybody in a mixed > age group thought about this? What are you doing? > How did it go? >
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Elder Care In Community Caren Albercook, March 21 2006
- Re: Elder Care In Community Craig Ragland, March 21 2006
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Shadowlake Village Resident research project Lisa Poley, March 21 2006
- Re: Shadowlake Village Resident research project aamato, March 21 2006
- RE: Shadowlake Village Resident research project Lisa Poley, March 27 2006
- Re: Shadowlake Village Resident research project Craig Ragland, March 21 2006
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