I would love to hear of an alternative to age segregation ...
- When my mother was recovering from a broken back in a nursing facility she
literally went crazy: couldn't separate dreams from reality. I don't know
how much was due to interrupted sleep and how much was due to drugs. I was
worried that she wouldn't ever recover ... fortunately she mostly has.
If/when she goes back into a nursing home because of another injury, I'm
afraid she would lose her mind.
- It would be extremely difficult financially to move her next to me. It is
currently a 3 hour round trip to go help her. Basically the relative
availability of jobs in Silicon Valley pushes up the cost of housing to
about 4 times that of a comparable house in an otherwise comparable
neighborhood about 60 miles and thus 1.5 hours away.
- If she moves into senior housing, nursing help and food would be available
from full-time employees.
- If she moves into a single family home closer to me (perhaps 15 miles away
would be affordable) she won't know anybody in the neighborhood and I still
wouldn't be able to go over to her house every day. Help would have to be
provided by a person working part-time and thus probably be someone who is
struggling with their own problems. This seems to have far too little
benefit versus the problems.
- A small condominium near me would cost more than her single family house
is worth but is probably the only economically achievable way of getting her
close enough to me that I could visit her nearly every day. If she lost her
ability to walk (like my father did) a care-giver would have to be nearby
essentially 24 hours a day. Although a condominium would avoid age
segregation, at some point it's possible that she would have to move again
when she was weakest or "strangers" would have to be hired to help her.
I would really appreciate any ideas how you have dealt or plan to deal with
the frailties of age.
Jeff Keller
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris Barker [mailto:ftog@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]
Subject: Re: [OM] Good imagery
..., but the idea of segregation for the old, voluntary or not, is
unattractive to me.
Chris
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