Many Older Adults Desire To Age-In-Place

I am responding to question number 2. Many older adults desire to age-in-place, this “refers to the expressed desire to remain in one’s own home or at least in one’s home community for the remainder of life.” (Lecture Slides) There are many things that might help foster the goal of aging-in-place including: age-friendly/livable communities, flexible housing and universal design, naturally occurring retirement communities, the virtual village concept, cohousing, intentional (niche) communities, elder cottages, home-sharing. “Older adults want to be where the environment is familiar, neighbors can be relied on for assistance and socializing, and they have some sense of control.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social
Gerontology) One community level strategy to help aging in place in age-friendly communities, livable or lifelong communities. This is “where residents of all ages can comfortably live their whole lives.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) This is especially nice for residents because they will never be forced to move, they can live here essentially forever if they wanted to. This type of housing puts an emphasis on the built environment and the social and recreational activities. These will promote social envolvment and a healthy lifestyle/choices. They build walking and biking trails and just try to make the overall community safer for pedestrians. These communities “also aim to foster independence and cross-generational exchanges among community members, reguardless of age or functional ability.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) This is important because this creates a community where people can stay all of their lives, which is important for most people. Another imporant plan to promote aging in place in age-friendly communitites is designing housing that is able to adapt to the changing needs of elders.
Universal design “is the design of products and places that allow choice and flexibilty by people of all ability levels.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) This includes things like bathrooms with roll in showers, hands-free facets, nonskid flooring, same lighting through out the house, among other things. Something similar to universal design is flexible housing. Flexible housing are “homes that can be built and remodeled for use throughout the lifetime.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) This could include moveable walls or wide hallways to make it wheelchair accessible. These both allow the famlies to change aspects in their houses as the family grows and as they get older. This is important for aging-in-place because this way the elderly people do not have to move houses when they need a wheel chair or need to switch things up, their home already alows them to do so and they won’t have to
move. Naturally occurring retirement communities are apartment building where many people have lived for years, so now they are comprised of mostly all elderly people. Over half of the residents are age 65 and older. These places are not built well for elders aging in place, but the local governments are trying to work on this problem. An example of this is in Queens, New York. There “city funds and philanthropic grants pay for an on-site tem of social workers and nurses to care for elders in an apartment complex where more than 60 percent of residents are age 60 and older.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) This promotes aging in place because they nurses and social workers are coming to them, so the elders are able to stay where they are. The virtual village concept “is an innovative, intentional model for supporting aging in one’s community and building on existing social networks.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) The reason it is referred to as virtual is because it isn’t a physical location. In the vitrtual village concept, the community member come together because they all want to stay where they are. With this usaully members are paying an annual fee. “These fees typically support a staff person to help coordinate volunteers, link to proffesional services, and seek discounted rates from local businesses, such as plumbers, home health agencies, and finacial advisors.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) The people who are central to the success of this are the volunteers that provide the in-home needs for the elders to be safe in their homes. This obviously helps aging in place because the volunteers are helping the elders in their homes, so they can remain there and don’t have to move. Cohousing is another way for people to age in place.
“Cohousing communities are clusters of 10-30 people individually owned housing units (attached or single-family homes) where families of all ages, or older adults only, live independently.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) The cohousing come in with the common house they share for social and recreational activities, community meetings, and occasional group meals. The residents usually share responsibilities such as cooking, cleaning the shared or common house, any yard care, and physical maintenance. This is helpful for aging in place because they have a social aspect and they get to share some of the house-hold work with others. Most of the existing cohousing communities are comprised of younger people. The communities like this for elders are build by ones with younger residents and they are usually smaller. Other benefits for elders living in this kind of community are they remain active and it prevents
lonliness. Intentional (niche) communities are another relatively new housing model that promotes aging in place. These are communal housing projects that can be intergenerational or for older adults. It’s where people with common interests can come together for the construction of a community, which can have apartments, townhouses, or detached single-family homes. These residents usually do more activities together than in cohousing communities. These can also have assisted living units for elders that need some help. These can also be built near college campuses, so residents can take classes and attend other events they are interested in. Also, students can volunteer in the communities as well. Elder cottages are more in urban areas. They are “typically factory-built, self-contained, energy efficient, and aesthetically appealing dwelling of around 800 square feet that is specifically designed for older adults and people of all ages with disabilities.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology) These are placed on family member’s home property, allowing for privacy and being close to assistance. This is why these are so helpful for aging in place. Home-sharing is where someone opens their home to you for rent and you share household responsibilities. This allows the home owner to feel safer and not be so lonely. There needs to be a good match between the residents though, the main reason for this not working is a poor match. This is good for elder to stay in their homes, but it also benefits “single-parent household, the homeless, and individuals with special needs.” (Hooyman, Kawamoto, Kiyak. Aging Matters: An Introduction to Social Gerontology)