My 87 year old mother recently spent 2 weeks with us (sorry for letting my posting slip somewhat). Near the end of her visit my son asked me how long I thought she would be able to continue living independently. She moved from the family home into an apartment eight years ago. It’s not a seniors’ apartment and she still drives. She has all her mental faculties, takes almost no drugs, and does not use any kind of mobility device, although she can’t walk long distances and she shuffles a bit because she is afraid of falling.
So: a very independent senior you might conclude and you would be half right. She IS very independent but only because my three siblings live in the same city she does and they help her a lot. My sister does all her grocery shopping for example. My brothers do various maintenance tasks for her. Without that kind of help her life would be difficult, perhaps too difficult to allow her to remain at home, where she wants to be.
My mother is fortunate to have children close by who do these things for her. But what about people who don’t have kids close by? And, what about the boomers, who, typically, have had fewer children than their parents?
One solution is virtual retirement communities. We have posted about VRCs in earlier blogs and I am convinced they will become a prominent part of the landscape in years to come. Another is intentional communities. Someone I was talking to recently told me about a group of seniors who share the same caregiver. They all live in single family houses but not on the same street. The caregiver goes from one house to the next and is increasingly getting worn out. They have now decided that the obvious solution is for all of them to live together. And that indeed IS a good solution if they can get it off the ground fast enough.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 10:24 am and is filed under Future, Seniors' Housing, Virtual Retirement.
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