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More and more elders are aging without the support of family/spouse. What to do without a support network? This new Facebook group seeks to help. Some good ideas in this post. Worth a read -- and maybe participation?
I checked that out about a year ago. At that time most weren't elder orphans. Even the article mentions kids that live far away. That means you are not an elder orphan! No spouse and no kids not far away or estranged or anything else.
I checked that out about a year ago. At that time most weren't elder orphans. Even the article mentions kids that live far away. That means you are not an elder orphan! No spouse and no kids not far away or estranged or anything else.
Exactly my experience. I joined but quit after a few months. I think the final straw was a post by a woman who posted about her very expensive vacation with her friends and sisters. This is more of an elderly social group than anything else. I get the feeling the administrator of the group loves publicity for herself too.
I remember looking at that site and I wasn't inclined to get involved.
I'm 73. My only family is a cousin in her 80s in a different state and an aunt in her 90s in a different state. We support each other via phone calls, I guess you could say, but they both have immediate families in their kids with whom they live. I had no kids. I guess I'm an elder orphan, which is kinda funny since I was adopted at (actually before) birth 73 years ago.
It has nothing to do with parents. It is about people with no spouse and no children.
Or other family members either nonexistent or estranged. At least that's how the group was advertised when it first started. But it hasn't turned out that way.
More and more elders are aging without the support of family/spouse. What to do without a support network? This new Facebook group seeks to help. Some good ideas in this post. Worth a read -- and maybe participation?
I got banned from that group for posting things of a political nature. Because it's considered political now for senior citizens to want to discuss potential cuts to Medicare and Social Security.
And I found it ironic that many, if not most, of the members weren't orphans at all, but had grown children.
IMO, this is going to be a much bigger issue than people give it credit for going forward. There will be a growing number of seniors, while maybe not orphaned by this article's definition, that are going to end up marooned in economically unviable areas.
I'm probably among the last generation where small towns and rural areas were economically viable places to live at one point. Many current seniors are retired here and are unwilling/unable to move. Younger Boomers and some Generation X were able to secure good jobs in these areas, but many of their Millennial and younger children have had to move major cities to find decent work.
I foresee a lot of elderly in these areas being unwilling or unable to move closer to their children. The children can't comeback to the hometown to care for them. There is probably going to be quite the cottage industry in these areas for nursing homes, home health aides, "lower end" senior care, etc. There will probably be levels of service that end up being offered that aren't even mainstream offerings yet.
I had this discussion with the grandmother yesterday. She is 81 with mobility issues and we live in our hometown that has a poor economy, but used to be better off. She stays with my aunt about half the time, who is getting laid off soon at 56 years old. My employer is potentially merging with another company over the next month, which leaves my job shaky as well. At 81, having lived in the same house since 1967, and not having lived in another town since my grandfather's military service during the Korean War era, she's not going to be willing to move.
What are elderly folks like that going to do when they get up in years, and the younger family members have to move to keep themselves afloat? For her and many others, there aren't many options. Depending on their health, they may be able to stay in their homes with some adaptation to the space and some level of care. Many others will have to go to an ALF. Many of these seniors are going to end up effectively orphaned in small towns and rural areas that don't have a lot going for them.
And I found it ironic that many, if not most, of the members weren't orphans at all, but had grown children.
That's what I found there too. I got into a few arguments about that. I am sure I would have been banned if I didn't leave on my own.
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