Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Aging in Place: Is your community becoming a NORC?

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

Certainly some cohousing communities may become NORCs tho should be better
able to adapt.

On our visit to Denmark in 1999 ( http://l.cohousing.org/dk99/ )
I remember visiting one of the first cohousing communities, Saettedammen
in Hillerod (?) which had had original families about the saame age and very
little turnover in 25 years so they were growing old together.
I wonder how they are doing 11 years later.

Ann wrote:

> In truth ... it's hard for a community to provide ongoing services for
> people. We can do it for pregnant moms, people recovering from surgery
> or illness. But long term ongoing services? It's hard. Especially if
> there's more than one household needing these services. We are not
> well equipped to do this. We all have busy lives.

This assumes the care is being done by volunteers.  Indeed that is
unrealistic depending on the numbers and degree of care required. On the
other hand for paid caregivers who come into the community, there may be
some advantages to having multiple people needing care.  Economies of
scale if you will. For example, special facilities or equipment that can
be shared and minimal travel time for caregivers serving more than one
person.

Such care can be expensive and paying for it in this country (unlike
Denmark) can be a challenge, but compared to nursing homes, it's much less
expensive.

There would probably be opportunities for volunteers even with
professional help and developing a good relotionship between the paid
folks and the volunteers would be important.

One of the big problems with special needs folks other than the elderly in
cohousing that I have observed is that if they have the special needs when
they join the cohousing community it can be difficult.  But if that need
develops after thay are a member of the community it is much easier to
accept and see helping them as a community priority.  Aging will develop
to us all - usually to people who are already community members.

Fred

-- 
Fred H. Olson  Minneapolis,MN 55411  USA        (near north
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