Myth of Aging in Place

One of our projects is in Niagara Falls where Covenant Care Niagara is working to create a new kind of nursing home in Ontario where aging is not considered an illness suitable for a large institution, but a fact of life, where, in a small setting, life continues to be meaningful, relevant, and important.

The inspiration comes from the Green House homes that are becoming very popular in the U.S. They are a change away from our institutional, medicalized model where advanced age is an illness.

Bill Thomas is the driving force behind this movement and I was struck by a comment he made in the linked article.

"Aging is, and has always been, a team sport. The myth of "aging in place" harms people by defining the decision to share one's daily life with others as failure. But a big piece of the reluctance to seek out new ways of living with others is the dread of institutionalization. People cling to their homes in large part because they fear life in a nursing home more than they fear death. These are solvable problems, but we can't and won't make much progress until we come to a vastly deeper appreciation for the value of "life beyond adulthood."

I suspect he is right about "aging in place" as a reaction against the alternative. For 10 years it has been the buzz phrase for progressive thinking on elder care. It should mean having sufficient supports to remain in one's current home not as long as possible, but rather until a better, more meaningful alternative makes better sense. One view is clinging to the last hope of independence. The other is ensuring any place one lives is the right place.