Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Long Term Care (LTC) Insurance - What are your facts?

[Carol Agate (carolagate]

These are good points about the limits of how much care younger neighbors can 
provide for older ones who need assistance. One solution is senior cohousing in 
which a studio unit is set aside for a caretaker whose services (and salary) 
can be shared for those who need help with bathing, medications, or other less 
than full-time help.

Carol Agate
Cornerstone 
Cambridge, MA 


> On Dec 8, 2015, at 7:44 AM, R Philip Dowds <rpdowds [at] comcast.net> wrote:
> 
> 
> Excellent and realistic points from Ann.  From my experience as an eldercare 
> architect (designer of nursing homes, assisted living, retirement housing, 
> etc.), I’ll add some amplifications.
> 
> . . .
> 
> Like assisted living, cohousing can help bridge the gap between independence 
> and custodial care.  And probably at a considerably lower cost.  But we 
> cohousers need to stay realistic about what we can and can’t do (or don’t 
> want to do) for our friends and neighbors.  Do I really want to assist my 
> neighbor across the hall with ADLs = Activities of Daily Living: bathing, 
> dressing / grooming, feeding and toileting?  Or, do all his/her grocery 
> shopping … even as I myself am having more trouble finding my car keys?  I’m 
> 71.  Am I expecting my neighbor to do these things for me?
>     I think most of us would agree that direct care with ADLs is probably 
> mostly beyond the social contract, implicit or explicit, of cohousing.  
> Grocery shopping and meal prep for a neighbor is very much within our scope.  
> For a while.  But three meals a day, month after month?
> 
> Finally, we need to stay realistic about how much help old people can give to 
> old people.  If an 80-year-old’s television or computer screen goes dark, or 
> door sticks shut, chances are greater that it can be re-activated by a 
> 40-year-old than by another 80-year-old.  If supporting elderly neighbors is 
> part of our mission, then there is much to be said for multi-generational 
> communities.
> 
> Thanks,
> Philip Dowds
> Cornerstone Village Cohousing
> Cambridge, MA
>