Cohousing-L Mailing List: Aging in Place

[David Entin (davidentin]

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