Re: Elder Care In Community
From: Sharon Villines (sharonsharonvillines.com)
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:24:22 -0800 (PST)

On Mar 21, 2006, at 1:31 PM, Craig Ragland wrote:

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),

Thank you very much!

What Songaia does today is (1) have a care conference, in which everybody is
invited to discuss the special needs of the member,

One of the ways we have handled this is that the person who needs support choses someone to be their communicator/coordinator. This helps a lot because we all have questions (57 adult membes) and the person who has just been diagnosed with cancer or lost a baby, does not want questions. That person then communicates information and needs to the community.

We tend to be less organized than Songaia (I'm envious!)

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.

Firstly, I would think about this more broadly than just for the elderly. All the urgent care needs we have had were for younger people -- very ill babies, pregnancy, cancer, and now a dying service dog. Depending on what state people live in, there are far more larger-community supports for the elderly than for the young. With the emphasis on helping people age in place, you can find in-home care from nursing to shopping much more easily for people over 65 than for any other age group. So look to your state programs first.

Secondly, I would look for examples from local non-profit retirement communities that offer life-time, guaranteed medical care. They have built in provisions and "best practices" for sharing support of extra-ordinary expenses and for situations where people outlive their finances. A major feature of at least some of them is to have agreements that the costs of care will be charged against the person's estate when they die. That way they are not depleting their investments (and thus their income) while they are still alive. They also have arrangements for moving people to smaller units.

Thirdly, if you look at Chuck Durrett's latest book on Senior Cohousing, he talks about having larger guest room facilities so families can come and stay for extended periods and where care givers can live in and care for several people in the community. The advantage of the later is that people in the community are then familiar with a care giver and are not calling a stranger when they themselves need help.

Sharon
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Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org


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