“Aging In Place – Deciding To Remain At Home – Takes Less Effort Than The Alternative”

There are many professionals who believe that a person can only age in place or remain in their current home for so long – that there is a definite limit to how long this can be that varies by the individual. True, each person is different and has different needs, but the idea that people really can’t remain at home until the end of their life does not mesh with all of the people who have already done it.It’s alright to think that people will need to move from their current home and into a senior living facility of some type – independent living or one with some type of assistance or medical care provided. However, this is contrary to what aging in place is all about. It’s not called “aging in place for a time” or “aging in place for a season.” There are no qualifiers or thoughts that this may not work.

Again, each person is different, and they have various personal preferences. Let’s be careful, however, at advancing the notion that people can only remain in their current homes so long before they will eventually have to move. This is outdated thinking because we now have the ability to keep people in their homes (or living with family) more than ever before in recent history.

Continuing to live at home takes the commitment to do so, but this is not always formal. For instance, a person might just keep living where they are with no conscious effort to find another home but no real sense that this might be their last home either. They continue to live where they are and do not deviate from this pattern. In a sense, they are aging in place by default because they have not made a decision, either way, to stay or leave. They just continue on as before. Not deciding to move is the same as deciding to stay except that they have not made their intentions known to themselves or anyone else.

Conversely, deciding to give up their home and move into some type of managed care facility takes planning and action. One does not make the move overnight. There is the current home to move out of and liquidate – through a transfer of the deed to a relative or by listing the property. All of their personal property except the little that they might move with them to their new quarters will need to be sold, donated, or tossed (for that which is no longer desired or deemed to be of sufficient quality for anyone else to want it).

Before moving, they will need to find the place they want to live (on their own or through a family member or friend), they will have to apply there, then they will have to wait to be accepted, and finally they will need to make the necessary arrangements to move before they can leave their current home. Then, there will be actual move into the facility. This requires a lot of effort – considerably more than what is required to remain where they are.

Even if there a few issues that need to be resolved in their current dwelling, people do not have to incur near the amount of planning or effort go through much effort that goes into leaving their present home and moving elsewhere.