Cooperative Aging

Virtual villages

The Los Angeles Times has a good story today about Ashby Village in Berkeley, CA, a senior 'virtual village' that is representative of an increasing trend of service networks intend to promote aging in place.  The article quotes a researcher as saying that the number of such 'villages' is growing exponentially.

The virtual village in Berkeley is one of 65 nationwide, with 120 more in the works. The volunteer-driven networks are meant to help seniors continue living in their homes by delivering a multitude of services they no longer can do for themselves and to help them stay engaged through social events.

What started with the first village in 2001 in Boston has become a fast-growing phenomenon that could fill a crucial gap as baby boomers age and longevity increases. By 2050, demographers project that 1 in 5 Americans will be 65 or older, part of a "silver tsunami."

"I think this is going to be the way of the future," said Berdeen Coven, a psychologist leading the drive to launch the Silicon Valley Village, expected to open by June. "There just aren't going to be enough private facilities for people to age in, and we have to get together and help each other out as we live longer."

The article provides financial information for the nascent Silicon Valley Village:

Coven, with the Silicon Valley Village, said about 20 volunteers are working to launch it once they secure enough start-up funding, expected mostly from individuals.

"Our goal is $100,000 so we won't ever have to close our doors," Coven said.

The village will charge $800 annually per person, or $950 per household. It will start small, serving Los Gatos, Saratoga, Monte Sereno and parts of Campbell, and add 100 members yearly until it's serving most of Santa Clara County.

The article also mentions that UC Berkeley's Center for Advanced Study of Aging Services, with the financial support of the Archstone Foundation, is conducting a three-year study of Ashby Village to determine the qualities most likely to support the long-term viability of such 'villages.'

Janet Witkin, visionary founder of Alternative Living for the Aging

Here is the LA Times obituary of this impressive woman who died this weekend, far too young.

Accessible if not affordable design in the Rocky Mountains

Today's New York Times has an article  about the Colorado showpiece home of Cynthia Leibrock, a self-promoting expert on accessible design for aging in place.  'Accessible' here clearly refers to usability by the disabled, rather than to affordability, as the list of high end products Ms. Leibrock has incorporated into her 'universal design' home attests.  The story states that Kohler and Gaggenau (for both of whom Ms. Leibrock has consulted) have each donated about $50,000 in products to her home, and that about ten other manufacturers have also contributed items.  

What is a NORC?

NORC is an acronym for a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community -- that is, a community with a large proportion of older people, all living within a defined geographic area.  Unlike traditional retirement communities created specifically as destinations for retirees who make an active decision to join the community, NORCs come about by default with the aging of a population that has lived in a neighborhood for decades. A NORC is defined as including not only housing complexes and free standing homes, but also the associated commercial, community, worship, transportation and health resources that the community relies upon.   (Source:  2004 U.S. HHS report "Supportive Services Programs in Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities.")   

The identification of NORCs as distinct service targets began withJewish social service organizations in several urban areas.  In the mid-1980s UJA Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of New York began targeting health and social services to clients who were living in market rate apartment buildings in New York City where older adults were the predominant residents. These buildings became known as Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities (NORCs).  Through this effort a new paradigm of community-based social services was derived:  the NORC-Supportive Services Program (NORC-SSP).  The model promotes healthy aging, independence and community building through a multifaceted approach. The key elements consist of case management and social work services; transportation; health care management and prevention programs; education, socialization, and recreational activities; and volunteer opportunities for program paricipants and the community.   (Drawn from the website of the NORC Aging in Place Initiative.)

Lesbian NORCs

The New York Times has a story today about another naturally occurring retirement community (NORC):  lesbians aging in communities they formed several decades ago, at a time when the general population was much less welcoming to gays than it is today. Some of these communities now include the (gay) children of original members.  I was struck, however, by the fact that the communities do not permit straight family members to live there as well.  Is such a dogmatic approach necessary?  I guess it's no different than over-55 communities that do not permit younger family members to come live with the residents.

Staying put

Another story about Staying Put in New Canaan.

Technology & independence

The New York Times recently had an article about high-tech gadgets that can provide peace of mind to frail but independent seniors and their families.  The motion sensors and remote monitoring systems enable concerned family members who may be thousands of miles away to ascertain whether their elderly relative is moving around normally and taking their medication.  The story noted that the U.S. is substantially behind the European Union in the development of technologies to support and sustain independent living for the aging.   In Dublin, the Irish government is partnering with Intel on the Technology Research for Independent Living Centre (TRIL) to develop and test such technologies.

The Eden Alternative

    The Eden Alternative is a non-profit organization established by William H. Thomas, a geriatrician, and his wife Judy, to disseminate their theories regarding aging.  The premise of the Eden Alternative is that most long-term housing ignores residents' key problems of loneliness, helplessness and boredom, focusing on seniors' physical needs without adequately addressing their psychological needs and thus creating a track where seniors' implicit focus is downhill, towards death. 

    The Eden Alternative advocates a cultural change in senior housing, promoting a community focus and hearth-like approach through what it calls Green Houses, designed as private rooms for six to ten seniors, centered around an open kitchen and dining area. The Green House is intended to look and feel like a home, containing few medical signposts.  The goal is to provide a place where elders can receive clinical care and daily support without the assistance and care becoming the focus of their existence. 

    Although the concept is interesting, the Eden Alternative's website is dense and not reader-friendly.  This article on the National Real Estate Investor website may provide an easier introduction to the organization.

Aging in place

"Aging in place" is the term describing a movement to enable elderly people to stay at home, rather than move to assisted living facilities, when they grow frail.    Banding together in neighborhood economic communities, elderly people -- or those who will one day be elderly -- plan and negotiate to obtain sharable services, such as transportation, home health visits, shopping, and home repair.   

Two recent New York Times articles featured groups of neighbors in Boston and Washington, D.C. who have joined together in non-profit organizations to obtain services and look after one another.  Similar efforts are under way around the country. 

The prototype aging-in-place community is the six-year-old Beacon Hill Village in the Boston area, which serves a group of members living around the Beacon Hill neighborhood.  Also in Boston is  Cambridge at Home,  a group of those in the Cambridge neighborhood, and the Stonewall Connections network, which works specifically to help gay and lesbian members age in place.

In Washington, D.C., a group of neighbors have recently organized Capitol Hill Village with the same intention.  And, in Connecticut, Staying Put in New Canaan  is another new network that enables retirees to stay independent for longer by connecting them through a "virtual village" .