What is a Senior Friendly Cohousing Community?
From: Alice Alexander (alicecohousgmail.com)
Date: Sat, 13 Feb 2016 08:51:48 -0800 (PST)
I'm reposting this blog
<http://www.cohousing.org/www.cohousing.org/what_is_senior_friendly> on
cohousing.org from Cindy Turnquist.

When talking about “Aging in Community” I often refer to a senior-friendly
cohousing community. Please don’t confuse the term senior-friendly with
senior-only. Senior-friendly can refer to either multi-generational or
seniors only communities. They both modify the cohousing model to create
physical and social environments that allow people to flourish as they get
older.


A senior-friendly cohousing community is proactively designed to support
aging in community and some level of co-care for each other. The grounds
and buildings incorporate universal design. The common house can
accommodate a caregiver as required. And, equally important, the hard
conversations about issues of aging are taking place, perhaps a committee
is formed, and the community bylaws can easily adapt to the changing needs
and abilities of community members regardless of their age or circumstance.


Senior-friendly communities use the concepts of universal design to make
their communities safe and accessible for everyone – the elderly and the
very young, those with physical and other challenges, short people, tall
people, and everyone in between. In the design world visitable and lifespan
elements are examples of a design philosophy call “inclusive design” (often
referred to as “universal design”). Universal design is a gift to the
elderly and to people with physical challenges allowing them to stay in
their community and living independently for as long as possible.


Join us at the 2016 Aging Better Together Conference in Salt Lake City, May
20-21, to learn how to transform an existing community into a
senior-friendly superstar or how to design a new community for the lifespan
of all who will live there. The conference provides over 30 breakout
sessions and three featured keynote presentations to guide you in this
journey. Experts in cohousing, successful aging, and community founders
will share their knowledge and experiences on everything from how to start
a new community to end of life care in an existing one.


I hope to see you there. To learn more about the conference visit
www.cohousing.org/2016aging.



-- 
Alice Alexander
Executive Director
www.cohousing.org <http://www.cohous.org>
[image: The Cohousing Association]

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