Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Aging in Place

[Kathryn McCamant (kmccamant]

My observation, which David¹s email also seems to further confirm, is that
the people who do most of the caretaking and thinking about aging are
empty nesters and older, generally those in their 60¹s plus. As we get
closer to the time when we might need the assistance of others, we tend to
think about this stage of life a lot more.

I think it is unrealistic to expect families with kids at home to have
time to assist the elderly in their communities beyond the most basic
ways. (Not to say they don¹t care  and would try to help as they can.)
Families with kids at home tend to work on constant time crunches between
work, kids and their own parents' needs. And it has been my observation
that while we love the kids in our community, most of us are not
voluteering for babysitting others' kids.

I think David¹s community¹s approach is a great way to create a ³team²
that is thinking of such things within an intergenerational community.

Katie 
-- 
Kathryn McCamant, President
CoHousing Solutions
241B Commercial Street
Nevada City, CA 95959
T.530.478.1970  C.916.798.4755
www.cohousing-solutions.com







On 8/8/15, 2:37 PM, "Cohousing-L on behalf of David Entin"
<cohousing-l-bounces+kmccamant=cohousing-solutions.com [at] cohousing.org on
behalf of davidentin [at] comcast.net> wrote:

>
>A couple of folks recently asked about aging in place in cohousing.   Our
>community, Rocky Hill Cohousing, Northampton, MA is an inter-generational
>community.   We have young families, children of all ages (including eight
>born since our move-in ten years ago), middle aged folks, and three
>retired
>couples.   We now have five people in their seventies and several in
>sixties.   A year and a half ago we began an Aging Gracefully group that
>has
>been meeting monthly for interested community residents.   We have had a
>steady group of about a dozen, mainly the older folks here.   In our
>meetings, we have been looking into and discussing a range of issues
>relating to aging, including end-of-life decisions, reading "Being
>Mortal,"
>filling out health care proxy and the Five Wishes, exploring local
>services
>for the elderly, and talking about how to assist each other when there is
>a
>need.  This group has bonded through our monthly sharing and we now have
>pot-luck dinners prior to our meetings.  Our community and Common House
>are
>handicapped accessible.   Our homes are primarily duplexes.    Though our
>houses are two-story, we designed ours so we can live entirely on the
>first
>floor, where we have living-dining and kitchen area, our bedroom,
>handicapped accessible bathroom, washer and dryer, and accessible walkway.
>Visiting children and relatives and friends and possibly a potential
>live-in
>caretaker can stay in the two bedrooms and full bath upstairs.   We are
>also
>particularly fortunate that our daughter and her husband and our
>granddaughter (aged 7) also live here, about 100 yards away.  I believe
>most
>cohousing communities are inter-generational, though there is a growing
>number of senior cohousing developments.   The recent national conference
>featured an excellent session on aging in cohousing - people may want to
>see
>the notes from that meeting.
>
>David Entin, Rocky Hill Cohousing, Northampton, MA
>
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