There’s a new kind of retirement community in Boston, Massachusetts that just might revolutionize the way we approach senior living. Many seniors dread the day when they’ll have to sell their homes and move into some sort of assisted living or artificial retirement community. They love the neighborhoods where they live, and their first choice would be to remain there. But until now, that has not been possible for many. Extended families do not care for their aging relatives as they once did, and that makes it very hard for people who need help with shopping and other basic needs to stay at home.
Some experts in the field argue that seniors are better off in well managed communities, independent or assisted living, where they have meals in a common dining room three times a day, housekeeping at least weekly, many activities on site, transportation to doctor’s appointments, and regularly scheduled outings for shopping and other cultural activities. This is, of course, better than staying at home along, and going without food, human contact and basic medical care.
Many chafe in the confines of these highly organized facilities that often run on a shoestring budget, with underpaid staff, and rigid requirements about what can and cannot be done to fulfill many government guidelines and to make the place livable for a large number of people. Often they promise more on tours for prospective residents than they actually deliver.
A group of creative thinkers in Boston’s Beacon Hill neighborhood have come up with a very appealing alternative. They’ve formed an organization called Beacon Hill Village where seniors (anybody from age 50 on up) can become members for about $750 per year for a couple or $550 a year per person, and low-income members pay just $100 a year, the balance being paid through fund-raising. And what do they get for this. All kinds of things.
They have a weekly car service that ferries members to the grocery store for free. They also invite notable Bostonians to lead monthly discussions in the neighborhood. Plus, they can call up the Village’s office and ask for help with all kinds of things, and they pay discounted hourly fees, some as low as $15 per hour. These services could be anything from helping a senior take a dog or cat to the vet all the way up to 24-hour-per-day nursing care. The intensive nursing care might end up costing as much as a nursing home, but the advantage to the seniors is that they are at home getting cared for, not in an institution.
So far, the members of Beacon Hill Village are very happy with the services they receive and a small paid staff has gotten many community organizations to provide discounted services, including some health care providers. And other communities in the country are considering adapting this model to their own circumstances. A very positive development indeed.
