Why Create an Aging-In-Place Group In Your Building

I look at my present life and try to visualize what my life will look like as I become less mentally and physically agile in the next few years. It brings up the question of what I can do now to make my future more palatable. Like many other older adults, I want to continue living in my present apartment for as long as possible. In order to do that I will need help from time to time. 

The recent pandemic gave us all some time to think about what can go wrong without warning and how our life can change on a dime. Everyday activities became more difficult; we were socially isolated; and had to make adjustments and compromises that were often not pleasant. From small things like not being able to open a jar or a can to large things like not seeing family and friends on holidays, it was very unsettling. 

Seniors who are living alone or with an aging partner in apartments can benefit by helping each other and sharing resources and ideas to make everyone's life easier. The concept of seniors empowering seniors is being promoted by the University Health Network Openlab (https://norcambassadors.ca/ideas/) in Ontario. They have many suggestions of how these apartment buildings can form a group to meet their particular needs.

Below are some things that can be organized by an Age-in-Place Group 

• Skills swap
• Wellness support
• Telephone tree
• Sharing workers/tradesmen
• Exercise buddies
• Rides to Appointments
• Shared Grocery Shopping
• Birthday Celebrations 
• Community Caterer
• Safety Door Hangers
• Pot Lucks
• Social Groups

These groups, once they are set up, can then network with other groups in the vicinity. 

 

 

Aging In Place

No one I know wants to move into long term care - not into assisted living or a nursing home. Governments do not want us moving into these facilities whether or not they are subsidized. For individuals it often means that your life and your control over it is diminishing drastically. For governments it means increases in costs and the problems of managing regulations that are never adequate for even the present issues. The answer to both sides of this conundrum is often simply to age in place. 

However… the opportunity to age in place successfully seems to to out of reach for many individuals and couples simply because of a lack of coordination of services along with a misalignment of funding. Often a crisis occurs and decisions need to be made quickly. Individuals have no time to look at a variety of long term solutions. They need immediate help with mobility, medications or diet or a combination of the three. The solution is often to move them to the first available bed in a nearby facility.  

An Ontario group is trying to change this. Their solution appears to be both cost effective and simple.  

A group of medical statisticians while reviewing Canada census information observed that there were many clusters of people over the age of sixty-five in many parts of the province. Often these groups were found in apartment buildings in urban centers. They coined the term NORC to describe these Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities.  As the medical people began to formulate plans to take advantage of the economies of scale these groups might produce, another concept began to emerge. This idea has the potential to transform the opportunities for seniors to keep control of their own destinies and ultimately allow them to stay in their present homes. 

Any building or area where at least seventy percent of the residents are over the age of sixty-five can be identified as a NORC. These groups might be in individual condo buildings or rental buildings or town houses or even clusters of homes in close proximity. Ambleside not only has many buildings that could quality as a NORC but the village itself is one large NORC. 

If a few individuals within one of these clusters were to create a group, or a committee, to formulate plans, they could interact with the seniors within their cluster and with health agencies, stratas, local governments and other businesses to make aging-in-place much more manageable over time. Plans could be put in place to help people who may need help in the future to live comfortably in their present home. Day to day inconveniences could be minimized; information and resources could be shared. Social isolation, especially during times of ill health, could be reduced. A group like this could join with similar groups in our area to let government know how best to support people who want to stay out of long term care. 

Here is a website which will show you how this could work: 

https://norcambassadors.ca/about/

A Naturally Occurring Retirement Community

Wednesday Mar 8, 2023

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A Naturally Occurring Retirement Community

As Ambleside residents are predominately on the high end of the age spectrum and as many of us live in apartments, can we call all of Ambleside a “Naturally Occurring Retirement Community”?

This term was coined in Ontario probably by statisticians to describe groups of people who live in apartment buildings where the average age over time has increased to the point where the majority of the residents are seniors. Using the acronym “NORC”, planners can use this information to identify pockets of individuals who may require future government funds to sustain their ability to live-in-place and thus avoid the burden on hospitals and long term care facilities. 

Here is a TV Ontario link that describes this idea.

https://www.tvo.org/video/finding-naturally-occurring-retirement-communities

The idea of setting up NORC committees in apartment buildings with a high percentage of seniors has been evolving. There are many advantages of having your building or a neighbourhood identified as a NORC. Seniors can have a place to voice their priorities and possibly make changes happen. They can share ideas and set up ways to make their lives more enjoyable. This includes social options as well as the possibility of improved health and wellbeing. At the very least it can allow all of us to rethink how to age well in our own homes over time. 

Is there a way, maybe through the Local Area Planning Groups meeting in April, to ask the District if they could provide a Coordinator who would have the ability to help seniors living in  apartment buildings to set up their own NORC committees? Many economies of scale might become possible when these groups are able to communicate with each other.