mbecker2, the article is about the Village concept in the Washington D.C. area. I noticed you live in California, thus you would have to contact your local agency on aging to see if anything like this is in your area.
John, I remember reading about this in the Washington Post, as I also live in the DC suburbs. I wish there was something like that here in my area, but we have a large variety of 55+ retirement communities to choose from.
The concept I think is great if the senior is still mobile and can live on their own and need someone to drive them places, get their groceries, be a friend, do odd jobs around the house.
There does come a time where a line has to be drawn, that the Village isn't enabling an elder to keep remaining in his or her home when that elder needs a higher level of care. Example, I was enabling my parents who were in their 90's to keep living in their 3 story home, but I didn't realize I was doing that. They both were major fall risk, and were falling, even on the stairs. I still had my career and would drop work and rush to help them. This became exhausting/stressful to a point of resentment. So, this is something I hope the Village has thought through.
In Denver, a non-profit called 'A Little Help' http://www.alittlehelp.org/ was founded not too long ago, after being modeled after 'The Village' in Boston. So, this great concept has now spread to other cities helping seniors stay in their homes. If you contact 'A Little Help' tell Hilary that Lynn sent you there.
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How My 'Village' is Helping Me Age in Place
The concept I think is great if the senior is still mobile and can live on their own and need someone to drive them places, get their groceries, be a friend, do odd jobs around the house.
There does come a time where a line has to be drawn, that the Village isn't enabling an elder to keep remaining in his or her home when that elder needs a higher level of care. Example, I was enabling my parents who were in their 90's to keep living in their 3 story home, but I didn't realize I was doing that. They both were major fall risk, and were falling, even on the stairs. I still had my career and would drop work and rush to help them. This became exhausting/stressful to a point of resentment. So, this is something I hope the Village has thought through.
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I need help for my Mom