research-l Mailing List: Re: Older adults & intergen communities to help populations in need

[Sharon Villines (sharon]

> On Nov 16, 2023, at 4:53 PM, Chuck Maclane <chuck.maclane [at] gmail.com> 
> wrote:
> 
> Fred, I haven't seen any reference to plans that a community might have made 
> and carried out to help those in need systematically. I vaguely remember 
> mention of individual cases along this line--they would have been described 
> only in passing.

From observing the people at Takoma Village who have hired caregivers on a 
continuing basis, I doubt if a community could handle this unless the community 
itself is formed around people who need this care. Then the costs and the time 
would be shared by enough people to make it work. The problem with an 
association being the employer is that individual members’s need for care is 
varied not only in the kind of care needed but times of day, days of the week, 
etc. There are also the costs and complications of paying social security, 
insurance, etc. The community would have to take on the same requirements that 
nursing homes have.

A friend manages the care for her father and has found a service that provides 
the workers. The owner has a list of people she trusts and she schedules them 
and handles all the social security, insurance etc. My friend's father has 
caregivers 24/7 and he might have 8 caregivers who rotate. Some work 12-hour 
shifts, others don’t. Some work several days a week and others don’t. 

Establishing a relationship with a service like this could be very useful 
because the owner and at least some of the caregivers would become familiar 
with the community and especially the person’s neighbors. It gets everyone over 
the hump of having to explain the community — what resources are available, 
calling on neighbors to help, etc. Then individual homeowners would make their 
own arrangements with the agency so the community doesn’t have financial or 
legal risks.

We have had some caregivers who are integrated into the community with their 
own set of friends, etc.

Sharon
----
Sharon Villines
Takoma Village Cohousing, Washington DC
http://www.takomavillage.org