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I'll tell you something else no one wants to seriously discuss. Who is going to provide care for all these "alone" seniors, especially if they choose or whatever to age in place.
Many of them are going to eventually realize that they can no longer stay "in place," or someone else (a neighbor?) will realize it, and they will move to ALF or nursing homes. "Age in place" sounds great and is what everyone wants, but honestly is a pipe dream for most people if they get old enough.
Many of them are going to eventually realize that they can no longer stay "in place," or someone else (a neighbor?) will realize it, and they will move to ALF or nursing homes. "Age in place" sounds great and is what everyone wants, but honestly is a pipe dream for most people if they get old enough.
What's the problem with this? Stay in your home as long as you can. When you need help and can't live alone, move to a facility. Makes logical sense.
What's the problem with this? Stay in your home as long as you can. When you need help and can't live alone, move to a facility. Makes logical sense.
Of course. I was responding to the poster who was concerned about who will care for the old people who "choose" to stay alone, in their own homes. And my response was that though when they're 50 or 60 or 70 they may say they're going to stay in their homes forever ("age in place"), for most of them something's eventually going to give and they will "choose" to move.
My dad lived alone in a walk-up apartment until he was 87. My grandmother, until 88. Neither one wanted to give up their independence, but they both realized they needed more care and had to move.
Many of them are going to eventually realize that they can no longer stay "in place," or someone else (a neighbor?) will realize it, and they will move to ALF or nursing homes. "Age in place" sounds great and is what everyone wants, but honestly is a pipe dream for most people if they get old enough.
Or you can just reconcile yourself to staying where you are and managing alone for as long as you can and, when you can no longer manage, you die. We all die sometime anyway, and a death in a nursing home (where likely you won't get the care you need, either) probably won't be much of an improvement over one in your own living room!
Or you can just reconcile yourself to staying where you are and managing alone for as long as you can and, when you can no longer manage, you die. We all die sometime anyway, and a death in a nursing home (where likely you won't get the care you need, either) probably won't be much of an improvement over one in your own living room!
Except that's not how it works. When you can no longer manage, you sit in your own feces and lay in the bed until you develop bedsores, then you exist in agonizing pain until someone finds you with sores so deep they can see your bone. With one of our patients, the mailman called 911 when the mail hadn't been picked up for quite awhile. Then you get shipped to the hospital then a home. You can live for years after you can no longer walk or care for yourself.
Except that's not how it works. When you can no longer manage, you sit in your own feces and lay in the bed until you develop bedsores, then you exist in agonizing pain until someone finds you with sores so deep they can see your bone. With one of our patients, the mailman called 911 when the mail hadn't been picked up for quite awhile. Then you get shipped to the hospital then a home. You can live for years after you can no longer walk or care for yourself.
Yes, I'm well aware of that, having been a family caregiver myself for many years. Still, we have options.
I don't get the issue with nursing homes. There are some great facilities out there.
I never understood my mother’s reluctance to go to assisted living. She didn’t love her home, the neighborhood declined big time to the point she wouldn’t open her shades even in the daytime. Relatives and friends who had been in the area were long gone. The place was falling apart around her, and her kids and grandkids were 90 minutes away. I can only attribute it to fear of change.
The old saying goes, "you live alone and you die alone." And many people even in their senior years, prefer to live alone or be alone. I don't know why people tend to demonize loners. Many of the happiest people I've known are loners who choose to live alone. I have never particularly been interested in people who cannot abide being alone. If you can't stand your own company, that strikes me as tremendously sad.
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