In May of 2005, Jude and I hosted a gathering at Summer Hill Farm convened by Second Journey with an extraordinary and diverse group of people. We set ourselves the task of imagining new models for the second half of life and powerful ideas emerged.
One of those ideas was “Aging in Community” — a concept, a vision, a new way of seeing things that proved powerful enough to inspire my good friend Janice Blanchard to focus much of her energies over the next seven years on teasing out its potential. Janice’s efforts culminated in the release last month of Aging in Community, a superb volume of 23 thought-provoking essays by visionary architects and planners, academics and social scientists, social entrepreneurs and elder pioneers helping forge new models for creating community in later life. I am pleased to have co-authored with Janice the lead essay in the book, Moving Beyond Place: Aging in Community. Here is a link where you will find more information: www.SecondJourney.org/AIC.htm.
We’ve always known most Americans would prefer to “age in place” rather than being forced into an institutional long term care. “Aging-in-place” has even become a cottage industry of sorts, advocated by many well-intentioned people, including some in our audience.
The reality is that aging is a team sport, and focusing our efforts on services and strategies to keep elders living “independently” creates a hollow victory at best. Kristin Bodiford captured the essence of the problem in a recent blog post:
Often the home we have lived in for many years and to which many fond memories and deep relationships attach poses significant physical, financial, or emotional challenges and makes connection with family, friends, neighbors, and the community difficult or impossible.
Aging in community presents a viable and appealing third option to institutional long-term care or “aging-in-place.” Aging in community fosters and draws on reservoirs of social capital. In comparison, institutional long-term care and trying to “age-in-place” rely heavily on financial capital and expensive professional services, while offering older people little or no opportunity to create or deploy reserves of social capital. As Kristin points out, “the concept encourages a proactive strategy to create supportive neighborhoods and networks. Thus, the well-being and quality of life for elders at home becomes a measure of the success of the community.
Aging in community advances the concept of being “a darn good neighbor” — and, as a result, promotes social capital, a sense of trust and mutual interconnectedness that is enhanced over time through positive interactions and collaboration in shared interests.
The gathering at our Summer Hill Farm five years ago was one of a series of Visioning Councils Second Journey conducted at venues across the country. It was a powerful process which sparked conversations that were truly transformative. I’m pleased to announce that now, five years later, Second Journey is reviving and updating this initiative with a gathering that will be held April 11-14 in Chapel Hill, NC. You will find more information about it here: www.SecondJourney.org/VC.htm.
I heartily recommend this program. Please pass this information on to your friends and colleagues.
I’m a student in the Erickson School of Aging taking the AGNG-200 course. I actually live next to what I consider to be some kind of hybridized nursing home/elderly community that offers a great deal of autonomy to its residents–the evidence is in how flooded the Giant (a local supermarket chain) is with the residents of this community. The takeaway for me however is that even in this more autonomous version of an ‘aging community’ there is a distinct lack of the second word in that phrase. Despite the fact that I live a handful of blocks away from these people, there are gates that manifest themselves physically and metaphorically.
As we’ve learned in our course there are competing theories of aging. The ones that I’ve always found most intuitive are those that place an emphasis on social engagement and the meaningful relationships that result. Often times we lose sight of the social capital that you mentioned in your post–things tend to be measured monetarily or temporally; without any cognizance of the pernicious disregard we allot to social bonds.
My mother’s upbringing was traditional for many Filipinos: three generations live in one household, with that reality manifesting itself in a culture and community that values the elderly, one that integrates them into society organically. Finding a valuable way to juxtapose that reality with our own as Americans holds a profound amount of value vis vis Aging.
Thank you so much for your work!
I am AGNG 200 student at Erickson School of Aging. I agree with this idea of creating an aging community because it would allow an encouraging environment where the elders could share time together as they age. An aging community would also help elders to overcome physical and emotional challenges that they usually experience at their homes. In my aging class, I have learned that as we age, our physical abilities decline and elders experience more depression and the highest rate of suicide in America is seen among elders. Engaging in activities with other people in our community could prevent depression and loneliness, and could bring the elder’s suicide rate down.
Aging in place can be challenging for some elders because they have to overcome physical and emotional burdens. Aging in a nursing home is not desirable by some elders because they fear loneliness, and some elders are mistreated by some professionals. Aging in a community presents an appealing environment where the elders would have more freedom to do their activities surrounded by an encouraging neighborhood. This idea of aging in a community seems to help elders to enjoy life more, and it offers a solution to decrease the suicide rate among elders.
Dr. Thomas,
Thank you very much for your insights and ideas. I happen to lean more toward Dr. Patrick Roden’s stance, but also coupled with some thoughts that align with yours as well. I think Psychology plays a big part here, and the denials and strength of desires about someone’s own home cannot be ignored (ie. the 89% AARP says would prefer to Age In Place).
Might I recommend our most recent blog which addresses some “outside the box” thinking about our vacant commercial spaces in a down economy, as well as how to create more “social network” in our own residential communities, while also creating new economy and jobs in the building industry. This requires voicing our opinions, getting involved, and caring enough about ourselves and our future to speak up. Take a look if you’d like:
http://empoweringthematuremind.com/re-zoning-our-nation-for-aging-in-place/
Thanks again. And as you’ll note in the blog, we completely agree that “Aging Is a TEAM sport”.
Hi Aaron,
Thank-you for your comments and sharing your ideas that are “outside the box.” I plan to check out your blog – always interested to hear about “repurposing” both private and public spaces in new ways! I wholeheartedly agree that building stronger social networks are a key component — and what we call the “social software” of aging in community! One does not have to leave the home they live in necessarily – but doing it alone can be difficult if not impossible, over the long haul. Aging in community advocates building those strong social networks that can help to mitigate some of the challenges we face in our own homes when we can no longer drive, need support with yard care, etc. Building and deploying social capital along with financial capital is key!
Cheers, Janice Blanchard, Editor, Aging in Community, President, Aging Better Together [email protected]
Out here on the opposite side of the continent there is great interest in our two-day course, Aging Well in Community, offered through Royal Roads University in Victoria, BC: http://cstudies.royalroads.ca/courses/course-listings.htm?courseID=54
The short course evolved out of popular ten week study groups that prepare people to live in Harbourside, senior cohousing under development in our coastal BC community. Now through Royal Roads U we are reaching many whose interest in aging in community extends beyond cohousing. This is an idea whose time has come!
Hi Margaret, Thank-you for your comments and sharing what is happening in Canada! I have several colleagues up there that I hear from and there is indeed a great deal of exciting work happening around aging well in community! Thanks too, for sharing the resource – I will check it out! Please feel free to contact me via email if I can of help!
Cheers, Janice Blanchard, Editor, Aging in Community, President, Aging Better Together [email protected]
Aging-in-community is a life-affirming concept for some; but not for all. My folks would no-more desire living in a community-than living in a nursing home. They love their home whcih is seeded in a community they self-identify with, and have for many years.
They have neighbors to interact with, a neighborhood store, and most importantly, they can regulate access to their private selves.
Aging in place for many (not all) is aging-in-community; what’s important is options…this is yet a welcomed option to the issue of environments for living into old age.
From the “well intended camp” 😉
Hi Patrick,
Thank-you for your comments. I absolutely agree that the idea is to create more options and environments for our elder years. Further, I agree that some forms of aging in community – such as shared housing “golden girls homes” or “cohousing” – is not for everyone. Living in such intentional communities are just one aspect of aging in community – what we call the “physical containers” or “physical environments” of where we live. Many people already live in homes and communities they love and can “stay put” — but are still very likely to one day need support to stay they, as well as to enjoy those aspects of the larger context of “home” and “community” that give their lives meaning and purpose. There are many emerging new programs and models of “social software” – like the Village model or very specific programs such as Share the Care or Meals on Heels that can offer a great deal of support and build community. In the book, Aging in Community, are some excellent essays by those who are doing things in neighborhoods like your parents to increase their ability to stay where they are!
Cheers, Janice Blanchard, Editor, Aging in Community, President, Aging Better Together [email protected]
A few years ago I was the Aging in Place director for a small Area Agency on Aging. The area was very rural And the demographic scewed older than the rest of the state. It occurred to me quickly that concentrating strictly on aging in place would lead to isolationism. So my efforts expanded to educating communities about the changing demographic. In the end I was talking about taking care of each other and communities being prepared to take care of an older group of citiznes. My presentation then became – From Aging in Place to Communities for a Lifetime. We have to go from the micro approach to the macro approach if we are going to address the aging population no matter where they live. This article states that reality.
Hi Patricia,
Thank-you for your comments and sharing your story. I could not agree with you more! Efforts need to be made from the household and neighborhoods, to city and local gov’ts to state gov’t levels. This is especially true for transportation, land use planning, zoning and other macro-levels of community planning and development but that directly impact an elders ability to find or remain in a home and stay connected to their community. Communities for a Lifetime — are you in Florida?!
Cheers, Janice Blanchard, Editor, Aging in Community, President, Aging Better Together [email protected]
I am a huge fan of both the Eden Alternative and the Green House Project. So I guess you’ve got yourself a (another) fan, Bill. And this concept of Aging in Community is EXACTLY what I see as a needed, sane approach to this whole issue of how we, as a society soon to be heavily populated with older folk, are going to thrive. I’m working on setting up a pilot project to exemplify this approach here in Portland. Maybe we can talk!
Hi Rachel,
So happy to hear you are another fan of the concept of Aging in Community! The new book, “Aging in Community” is full of ideas and strategies to help you in your effort to bring the approach to Portland. In addition, there are several efforts I am aware of already underway in your city! Please feel free to contact me if I can connect you to these efforts and the people running them.
Cheers, Janice Blanchard, Editor, Aging in Community, President, Aging Better Together
[email protected]
So true. Services to help people be safe and active in at home are important, but people also need support to be in the community. For example, I was at a meeting yesterday where an occupational therapist pointed out that there’s more focus on home safety to prevent falls, but not enough attention to safe sidewalks, which people need to get out in the community especially if they have mobility challenges. I like the phrase “aging in community.”
Hi Angie,
I am glad you enjoyed the article Bill and I wrote, “Moving Beyond Place: Aging in Community” for Second Journey and featured in the new book, Aging in Community. As I share in the acknowledgements, it was my own experience caring for my grandmother 20+ years ago that challenged my assumptions about aging in place as currently lived by most elders. Being socially connected – and meaningfully connected – are important aspects of being human!
Cheers, Janice Blanchard, Editor, Aging in Community, President, Aging Better Together [email protected]