Good Neighbors
Residents of cohousing communities provide emotional and practical support to each other. Cohousing offers more than universal design features like wide hallways and large doorways. It also meets the social and medical needs of aging people. Many of these communities establish special relationships with doctors and nurses who provide in-home care. Some even have on-site medical offices. And residents often band together to provide emotional and practical support to fellow community members.
At ElderSpirit, for example, community members agree to a set of values around aging. That means the common goal of the cohousing neighborhood is to offer care to one another in the later years. It affirms home care and dying at home. However, when institutional care occurs, a member of the ElderSpirit community stays in touch with the person and closely follows his or her condition. The practice reflects the residents’ belief that people die, not in isolation, but as a sister or brother in the human community.
On a more practical note, sharing both goods and services is the norm in a cohousing property. When members have needs beyond their individual and family groups, they are encouraged to make their challenges known. Community meetings and common meals provide opportunities for open discussion, sharing, and mutual assistance.
At Wild Sage Village in Boulder, Colo., future residents are just now exploring the values and principles that will allow them to remain in the community as they age. “We are actively investigating what we need to put into place to make this possible from physical, emotional, financial and spiritual perspectives,” says Susan Booker, who belongs to the Wild Sage group.
Online Resources
The Cohousing ListServ:www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L
Cohousing Magazine Online:www.cohousing.org/magazine
The Elder Cohousing Network:www.abrahampaiss.com/ElderCohousing/index.htm
Tree Bressen’s Group Facilitation site:www.treegroup.info