Aging Americans stay home with aid of 'villages'

[Dover]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) — Weaver Shepperson has been blind for nearly 50 years. He's lived alone since his wife died in 1999 and needs transportation several times a month to visit his doctors.

Yet he doesn't plan to move out of the rowhouse in Washington's historic Capitol Hill neighborhood where he's lived since 1955.

The 80-year-old is part of a burgeoning movement among senior citizens determined to stay in their homes as long as possible. With the help of nonprofit groups known as "villages," they're enjoying many of the perks that residents of retirement or assisted-living communities receive, at a fraction of the cost.

Shepperson pays $530 annually for membership in Capitol Hill Village. It enables him to receive a ride to the doctor's office from the village's network of volunteers. The village also takes care of his grocery shopping. Without it, he says he might have had to move into assisted living.


Read more: http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/11/12-2

[Kaleko]

1. K & R

[sabrina 1]

2. Good story, thank you.

[trickyguy]

3. It's tough keeping an aging parent in their own home.

But I'm lucky to have two care-givers who love my 92 yo. mom

and give her the best of care. Gut they're not easy to find.

Went through 13 applicants to my little classified ad before I found one.

We don't have "villages" in my rural town and the Home Instead organizaion

charges too much money for homw care. So we do what we can.

Mom loves being in her own home. And I'm glad we can do it for her.O8)

[spooky3]

13. good on ya!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. This is amazing! I know so many elderly who could use this. Wonder how we can help

this become a reality throughout the country?

[No Elephants]

5. There's one in Beacon Hill, Boston. Seems to work wonderfully for all ages..

It takes a village to be a village.

[Vinca]

6. What a great idea.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. K&R

Great story and seems like a decent service. I know that Meals on Wheels is one the volunteer services that have been around a long time for seniors. But as a larger and larger aging population chooses to remain in their homes (like my 81 yo mother who my family looks after), these types of organizations probably need to be monitored for fraudsters and scam artists out looking for the next money-making scam.

I recall seeing a story the past year about similar support ("village") networks for older (but not necessarily elderly) folks who were without families nearby and needed similar but usually short-term assistance at home (e.g., post-surgery or during periods of recovery from illness, etc), where volunteers helped with grocery shopping, rides to the doctor, etc. Nice to see people pull together to create a real community without fixating on a profit-margin.

[dipsydoodle]

8. Fantastic

:thumbsup:

Thanks for posting.

[Dutchmaster]

9. Just finishing up my Gerontological Social Work class this semester and . . .

this sort of thing is the wave of the future. AT least as far as what we are being taught. Longer life and compression of morbidity along with the rising costs of full institutionalization means it is necessary fiscally. Compassion, respect and dignity for our elders in a society that devalues the non-productive makes it necessary for our humanity.

[mia]

10. Create a “Village” in Your Community

http://www.capitolhillvillage.org/?pg=41

Capitol Hill Village Administrative Documents Available For Sale
Launched in October 2007, Capitol Hill Village has created a successful model for providing services, expertise, and social and cultural programming. Seventy-five percent of our services and programs are provided by volunteers. In the process, CHV has developed a number of legal, policy, and administrative documents for our staff and members that should be of use to anyone working to create a volunteer-based “Village.” We are offering this collection of material in electronic form (Word files), so that they can be adapted and edited for various organizations and purposes. Member and Volunteer Handbooks are also available in printed copy on request. The cost is $300.

To purchase electronic files for the CHV administrative documents listed below, send your check for $300 to Capitol Hill Village. To purchase the files online using PayPal, click the link below. In either case, be sure to provide the Village office with the e-mail address to which the documents should be sent.


Capitol Hill Village: Policies and Procedures (Second Edition, 2009)

Members’ Handbook (Second Edition, 2010)

Volunteers’ Handbook (2009)

Village document set $300.00 ...

Certificate of Incorporation

Capitol Hill Village Bylaws

Conflict of Interest Policy

Executive Director’s Job Description

Executive Director’s Job Posting

Sample Members’ Survey

[Dover]

16. Thanks! My big idea...

I had a light bulb moment not long ago :think: and wondered if we might design housing/neighborhoods around a central 'home' for the elderly that was maintained by every resident committed to living in that neighborhood - which would mean that those who were related to the older residents residing in the home and even those who were not related (but chose to live in that neighborhood) would live there and share in their care as volunteers and maybe share expenses too like a cooperative. This central 'home' might be combined with a daycare facility where the older occupants could participate in the care of the neighborhood children...a mixing of the generations. That would also provide some relief to families or the elderly relative themselves, who did not wish to live together but wanted to be nearby.

[dixiegrrrrl]

11. We have something like that here. It's called...neighbors.

It is what people do. It is an inbuilt sense of community.

We call our more frail neighbors call and say we are going to the store, what do you need?
We call on each other if we need rides to the Dr. or to go to the hospital.
We take in each other's mail and trash when needed, water the plants when someone is away for awhile,
and check to make sure everyone is ok after storms, or if we have not heard from them in a day or 2.
We have keys to each other's homes for emergencies or shopping or whatever.
It's a Southern thang in our area.

[Yon_Yonson]

12. Very good story and thanks for sharing

[TBF]

14. My inlaws are in their 80s and so far remaining in their home -

they are in a retirement community, and indeed their neighbors have been a huge help. Recently they've needed more help, so we found home health aids. After a certain amount of days their long term care policy (which they paid into for years) kicked in and we should be able to keep them there, at least for awhile.

[Auntie Bush]

15. Hillary was right! It does take a village!

She seems to be right about everything.

[femrap]

17. I really like that idea.

We all need a village.

[Courtesy Flush]

18. The Assisted Living lobby is working on it.

Expect this to be banned soon.