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I don't disagree with any of this. My grandmother is 82, and still owns the home she bought in 1967 with my grandfather. It's a tri-level - laundry in the basement, kitchen/living on the main level, and all the bathrooms and bedrooms upstairs. She's had knee issues for several years, and had a knee replacement in January. She has gone from the walker to just a cane, but still cannot get up the stairs effectively at her home. She's living with my aunt now, who has a one level townhome with basement, but grandma does not go into the basement.
The bathroom comment is interesting. Only one of my relatives has a shower that is level with the ground that would be easy for someone with mobility issues to get into. In my grandmother's house, the master bath has only a shower, but it is raised and recessed with the door being the only opening. The toilet area is so small that my shoulders touch both the vanity and the wall if I sit on it.
When I lived in my mom's guest house I had the most perfect shower ever. It was huge with a tiny ledge to step over. I always marveled that the water didn't run out onto the floor! She had built the guest house for her to live in and the shower was built just for her. Big enough for a walker and she had a really nice built it tiled bench to sit on. I loved that shower and still miss it.
Not much of a consideration at the time. I live on a small acreage in the high desert near Albuquerque. As it worked out, I’m about 15 miles outside the city center and much closer to two hospitals and maybe five minutes from an urgent care. My new doctor seems to be better than those I left behind in a rural town. Medical care seems pretty good but there are some appointment delays with specialists— not unusual in my experience.
well, I haven't "relocated" for retirement but I prefer to live near the med school affiliated medical center in my area. It is also an NCI Cancer Center, and after seeing the varied cancer treatment my late husband got at different hospitals north and south, I would want all my treatment there if I ever needed it.
Fletcher-Allen/UVM Medical and Dartmouth-Hitchcock are both strong medical facilities. 30 minutes from either of those gives you access to excellent health care.
I've chosen my retirement location. It's 20 minutes to a small hospital, 40 minutes to the university teaching hospital. That's close enough. As I age I may chose a new retirement place. If my needs change, I will get a place that matches my needs. I'm not ever going to say that where I live is where I'm going to die. At least not until I'm knocking on heaven's door!
Everything changes, and time moves on, so will I. I can't imagine buying a place at 60 that would meet my needs at 90. My MIL recently passed away at 91. The place that met her needs for the last three years was a one room apartment in an assisted living, with full-time nurses. That's a far cry from where we live now at 60.
When I lived in my mom's guest house I had the most perfect shower ever. It was huge with a tiny ledge to step over. I always marveled that the water didn't run out onto the floor! She had built the guest house for her to live in and the shower was built just for her. Big enough for a walker and she had a really nice built it tiled bench to sit on. I loved that shower and still miss it.
A lot of times older homes were built with very small rooms. Most of our local housing stock is dated and built right after World War II. These homes are certainly not designed for those with mobility challenges, or even the obese.
It doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can live in a rural area and still be within a 15 minute ambulance ride to a larger city. An ambulance can easily go 90 mph and get to a hospital 25-30 miles away in 15 to 20 minutes on a rural road, not that much different than living in a large city and having to drive across town in traffic with stop lights at a much slower speed of travel.
Ninety miles an hour, huh? Well, at least you're not claiming that they can travel 170mph as you were when we had this discussion about rural vs. city living a few months ago, lol.
I hate to be the bearer of further bad news for you, but ambulances most likely aren't going to be traveling down your rural road at 90mph either. Many states have laws that prohibit ambulances from driving more than 15mph over the stated speed limit even in emergencies. And ambulance companies themselves also have policies in place that prohibit excessive speed. So unless that rural road has a speed limit of 75mph....
No, but it's not just that. You need to consider your spry self may not be so spry, down the road and do you really want to have to move again when you are really old?
The hospital where I live is 5 minutes away. My doctor is 3 minutes away. I live in a town with just under 30,000 people but it sits on 85.3 square miles of land. So technically you could live in the same town as the hospital but not be near it, I just lucked out since I put no thought into the location of the hospital. I did not have the mobility medical problems I have now, when I retired, so who knew to pick my location based on that? I lived much further from the hospital when I was still in the workforce and lived in two other states.
Besides moving near specialists, which you should do with a pre-existing condition, I think it's a mistake to relocate to any type of home in any location with stairs, inside or outside of the home, or an older house with narrow hallways or doors (difficult to turn around if you later need to use a wheelchair, walker, scooter or rollator) or a small bathroom. It's not just the difficulty of going up and down the stairs or turning around. The lug factor should be considered because you are going to eventually need to hold on to the bannister with one hand as you get more shaky on your feet (or your head) which means you will be able to carry less with only 1 free hand...meaning multiple trips up and down the stairs.
I lived on the second floor of an apartment complex before and after I retired and I had to move to a ground level apartment (same complex) when I began to have trouble with my legs, 6 years after I retired.
I suppose if you are thinking of buying a condo or an apartment with an elevator in the building, you should ask how many times it's not in service per year. It might not be because of maintenance issues but due to weather related power outage issues. What would you do if you lived on the 15th floor of a condo on a beach and you weren't home when the power went out in a hurricane? How would you get up there when you returned if the power was still out? How would you get down the stairs if you had to evacuate and the power was out? How about in a fire? (future thinking, not how great you feel when you retire and relocate)
Don't give your kids a reason to put you in a nursing home (because your home becomes physically unmanageable). If you are married, one of you will probably die first. Can the remaining spouse handle the home at age 60, 70, 80, 90? What's in the attic? What's in the basement? Do you have to go down steps (with no hand rail) to get in the garage.
I'd also look for:
1) a town that has grocery delivery service just in case you need it years from when you retire,
2) the washer/dryer on the same floor as the bedrooms
3) no tripping obstacles like a fireplace lip (look for one flush with the wall if you want one), an ottoman, a coffee table or a dropped living room (one or two stairs).
Because of several recent personal experiences I agree with most of what you said here. My in-laws bought a house soon after they were married in the early 1950s. It was a small house on two floors with a family room and washer/dryer in the basement. They could have afforded to move into whatever kind of house they wanted. They chose to stay. My father-in-law's health deteriorated and his wife was his primary caregiver. A couple of years ago she was helping him go downstairs to the family room and they both fell down the stairs. She died and he survived. They were in their late 80s, but she was in very good health. The family did everything possible to keep him out of a nursing home but it was difficult. He kept declining and died nine months later. I'm sure my MIL would still be alive if they had planned ahead and moved to a one story house.
My wife and I were late 50s/early 60s and both in excellent health. Neither of us were on any prescription medications. My wife noticed occasional abdominal pain. She went to a family doctor we had been using for annual checkups and routine visits. He wasn't concerned and said to just keep an eye on it. Five minutes later the pain was more noticeable and she went to a specialist. It was a rare form of cancer. Few places in the country even treat it. Luckily, we wee about an hour away from a major medical center where one of the top oncology surgeons who treat this form of cancer is located.
The lesson to be learned is that your current situation can change drastically overnight. You need to be proactive and think about "what if" scenarios. My FIL had a long term health insurance policy and dropped it because he assumed because his wife was in better health, she would take care of him. She died first. They never gave consideration to how they would get up and down steps even after they had several hip and knee replacements.
Regardless of how good your health is today, you could come down with a life threatening illness where you will need more advanced and extended care than a local community hospital can provide. How far would you have to travel to receive this care and what kind of strain would that put on your family. My wife has had two surgeries where she was in the hospital for over two weeks. There are also pre-op, post-op and followup visits. How would your spouse or family member handle this level of medical treatment? What if you had to go to a medical center that was four or more hours away from your home? What if it required airline flights, hotel stays, and meals in restaurants? Could you handle the financial impact? What if the other spouse is still working? Just some things that I never thought about before.
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Originally Posted by Mr5150
OK I just had to respond to the BoldedI am sure these are your personal considerations and that's fine. But the vast majority of older people will never, ever the face health issues that require the type of preplanning of which you speak. we'll all be dead before that! If I died, my 65 year oud spouse could handle the home just fine. We live in a house with steps and you know what? Those steps keep our legs strong.
I am not going to live my life in fear of something that may or will not ever happen. OK, two of my older friends used walkers-for a month after hip surgery. One is almost 80. I dealt with clients who used scooters, but they were disabled and not that old.
What if? What if? What if none of your considerations applied to 90% of us. What a pity that we lived in fear and built our lives around unneeded contingency considerations and short changed our golden age desires and dreams? We should all take our chances and enjoy our golden years and make changes should the need arise. Gosh, I could sell my staired up house and move to a different place in town if necessary. Small price to pay to be happy today!
But yes, I am sorry that you have physical limitations.
Actually, most of us will face the health issues that require the type of preplanning that the OP spoke. The majority of people do not die quickly, but end up needing long term care and planning for end of life. You're naive to think it couldn't happen to you tomorrow.
It doesn't have to be all or nothing. You can live in a rural area and still be within a 15 minute ambulance ride to a larger city. An ambulance can easily go 90 mph and get to a hospital 25-30 miles away in 15 to 20 minutes on a rural road, not that much different than living in a large city and having to drive across town in traffic with stop lights at a much slower speed of travel.
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Originally Posted by MadManofBethesda
Ninety miles an hour, huh? Well, at least you're not claiming that they can travel 170 mph as you were when we had this discussion about rural vs. city living a few months ago, lol.
I hate to be the bearer of further bad news for you, but ambulances most likely aren't going to be traveling down your rural road at 90mph either. Many states have laws that prohibit ambulances from driving more than 15mph over the stated speed limit even in emergencies. And ambulance companies themselves also have policies in place that prohibit excessive speed. So unless that rural road has a speed limit of 75mph....
LOL, this made me chuckle, and laugh. thanks!
As a side note, I found a poster saying two directly opposite things about a topic in two different threads yesterday - which is puzzling - but understandable in that some posters want to play to differing groups of individual posters and play to a certain audience for accolades. (not the above posters)
Last edited by matisse12; 04-27-2018 at 04:49 PM..
Actually, most of us will face the health issues that require the type of preplanning that the OP spoke. The majority of people do not die quickly, but end up needing long term care and planning for end of life. You're naive to think it couldn't happen to you tomorrow.
Statistics do not really reflect that this is accurate - that most people need long term care.
As for worrying about having wide enough doorways and hallways in one's dwelling - it is questionable how many people end up in a wheelchair or use/need a wheelchair - those who worry about it seem to think most every older person ends up in a wheelchair and this was even stated by one who built their house to especially accommodate it thinking everyone ends up in a wheelchair - where statistics do not bear this out.
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