Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Elder Care In Community

[Martin Sheehy (martinsheehy]

Great questions, Caren. They need to be asked....and answered.
  Marty

Caren Albercook <calbercook [at] yahoo.com> wrote:
  Hi Everybody,
I live in a mixed age cohousing community in Ann
Arbor, Michigan. We've been living together almost 10
years now and have worked the big bugs out of being
with each other and getting things done. That happy
fact leaves us open to noticing subtler social issues
such as elder care.
We had our first elder member die about a year ago
and several of our members are in precarious health. 
I was talking with my neighbor last weekend and got a
vibrant look into her support needs and the fact that
she expects she'll have to leave us when her health
falters. I don't want that to happen and have been
talking with others about how to add elder care as a
dimension of our community living, to keep our older
members in community till the end. 
The over 80 cohort is the fastest growing
demographic in the nation. Add that to the baby
boomer group that will strain national healthcare
resources and you can expect that the present care
split of 40 percent paid by medicare and private
insurance and the 60 percent out of pocket to worsen. 
And that 60 percent is paid from a fixed and
diminished income. Paying ahead during prime earning
years seems like a good idea.
Anyone can buy catastrophic care insurance and
anyone can hire a home health aid, but it doesn't have
that feeling of group support, of embeddedness that is
community. Some of us are talking about starting an
elder care coop to save money ahead for this coming
challenge. But some of us are talking about buying a
unit here with combined financial resources and
finding a couple to live rent free in exchange for
elder care. Maybe we'll even get to the point where
we can buy a van for those who can no longer drive. 
Sorry I'm so long winded. Has anybody in a mixed
age group thought about this? What are you doing? 
How did it go? 
Thanks for the imput, Caren

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