Better alternatives to growing old and parenting

How do you feel about growing old in this country? How do you feel about the challenge of parenting children? Neither is easy nor cheap.

Who isn’t worried about outliving their resources? The specter of who will care for you when you no longer can haunts people.

Parents raising young children, especially single parents, grapple with the difficult choice between expensive child care and the children being home alone far longer than is ideal.

These and similar challenges can be managed far more easily in a residential setting than in a nursing home or daycare. The trick is finding the right combination of people and place and how it all comes together. My mission is to make group living widely available as a safe, affordable, and desirable housing option.

As a substitute companion, I hung out with a 98-year-old woman aging in a swanky nursing home. The pain of rheumatoid arthritis, boredom, and a parade of nurses framed her monotonous life. Although she had been eager to cross the finish line for at least 5 years, her body kept ticking.

As a member of a closed Facebook group of seniors with no family, some posts are too painful to read. One woman went to the hospital with severe stomach pain, which resulted in exotic gallbladder surgery. Her daughter, who lived 30 minutes away, visited for 15 minutes. The daughter who lived two and a half hours away was too busy. Her friends assumed that her children would help – a seriously flawed assumption.

Wouldn’t everyone prefer living among responsible people who care about you rather than in an institution? Wouldn’t any parent feel more secure knowing their child was at home among trustworthy people? Perhaps a housemate helps with their homework when they arrive from school.

I’m working to create opportunities to explore housing of all kinds, including home sharing.

Doctors Revolt, a recent article in the New York Times, says in part:

Finally, hospitals should be a last resort, not the hallmark of the health care system. The bulk of healthcare resources should go instead into homes and communities. (emphasis added) After all, a large majority of health problems are shaped by nonmedical factors like pollution and limited access to healthy food. Doctors must partner with public health and community development efforts to create a culture of health and well-being in patients’ daily lives.

The good things in life happen in a home, and I’m working to make that possible for anyone who wants it.