Aging in Place Planning Considers and Does NOT Dismiss Dangers of Home Care

"Aging in Place"- Aging Matters- NPT Reports

A person's home may not be suitable for aging in place, and a person's specific needs may make impossible independent living.  Aging in Place Planning is NOT myopically focused on the home as the ONLY care alternative, and should never be seen as suggesting the home as the only available care location.  This is obvious to those who understand that the hospital is always an institutional care alternative absolutely necessary for acute or emergent care.  Many worry, appropriately, that unhealthy attachment to the home can be dangerous.  

There is little question that, especially if poorly planned or oriented, the home can be a dangerous place for a vulnerable senior.  Isolation, alone, can be mentally, emotionally, and physically destructive.  Short or long term health care challenges, whether physical, cognitive, emotional, or psychological, may necessitate alternatives to the home.  Many consider aging in place as properly (even necessarily) considering a community, or other social safety net, as an alternative to blind reliance upon the physical location of the home. 

NPR has published an excellent video describing aging in place as a complicated array of alternatives and choices.  The video describes well the dangers of over-reliance upon a location without careful consideration of whether the location is appropriate. NPR appropriately suggests that quality of care and quality of life should be the ultimate goals of any care alternative.   

Regardless, crisis planning is often made more difficult by lack of pre-planning, condemning an objective to remain at home as long as possible to failure.  Institutional care is the obvious option to those who have no answer to questions such as:

1. How can you manage care in your home if you have cognitive or physical impairment?
2. How can you access vital services if you are unable to drive?
3. How can you manage medication?
4. How can you protect your physical security?
5. How can you manage/avoid isolation and separation from family and friends?

There are literally an infinite number of possible questions a senior and his or her family or caregivers must and should pose and answer to ensue the safety and afford the autonomy a senior may value.  This is the point of planning: planning puts one in the best possible position to identify and implement options that may not be obvious or possible in crisis.  

There is also, the "other hand;" simple reliance on institutional care to solve every care or support challenge is as myopic as over-reliance upon a particular home.  Institutions are well-suited for meeting some needs, but poorly suited to meet others, and one institution may be better at meeting certain needs than another. 

Aging in place planning is not easy, and there is no "one-size-fits-all" result for everyone.  But just like any form of planning, considering, identifying, empowering, and ultimately implementing choices prior to need is preferable to reactionary  crisis response.  

Every journey begins with a first step, and like with any form of planning journey, that first step should be identification and articulation of your objectives, considering fully your specific needs and circumstances.