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Alternative Living for the Aging
Alternative Living for the Aging
Seniors shouldn't have to spend their golden years living alone or living in an institution. They deserve better alternatives and that's just what Alternative Living for the Aging is providing-Innovative housing options that allow older people to remain independent through their interdependence.
We facilitate a free Preinterviewed Housemate Matching Program and our Cooperative Living Program. We have counselled over 26,124 people and facilitated matching over 7,787 folks to share housing in their own houses, condos, and apartments - so that they may gain companionship, form a new family, help one another with the tasks of daily living, save money, and gain a greater sense of safety and security, as well as sharing the joys and sorrows of life.
The David and Sylvia Weisz Family Courtyard Apartment, also known as the El Greco, is a beautiful building that is making dreams come true for the seniors who live there. ALA saved this historically significant building from demolition and moved it across town to its present location. Residents enjoy independent living in charming apartments and check in on each other at least once a day.
The truth is, today, many people are living longer, healthier, more active lives. But for many of our senior citizens, growing older can also mean growing isolated, lonely and poor. Living in an institution or living alone are often the only options older people feel they have.
http://www.alternativeliving.org/index.html
"I watched my own grandfather go through a kind of sad process of living alone and then needing to go to a board and care and finally a convalescent hospital. I thought it was very sad; I thought there ought to be another way for older people to live and I wished he had another way to live. So, I thought "Let's have a house where someone will be good at cooking and somebody will be funny and somebody will play the piano and someone will drive - and amongst them all, they'll have everything they need. That was Coop I, a place where people could feel that they had a new extended family at this point in their lives."
Fortunately many older people are discovering another alternative, Alternative Living for the Aging. It's a non profit community organization that is literally opening new doors and a new way of life for seniors. Formed in 1978, Alternative Living for the Aging (ALA) has pioneered the development of housing options that provide low to moderate income seniors with a much better quality of life.
RoommatesTwo very successful ALA programs exist today: Our free Preinterviewed Housemate Matching Program and our Cooperative Apartment Communities for older people. Janet Witkin, ALA's Founder and Executive Director explains how it all began:
In ALA's Courtyard Apartments, seniors enjoy the privacy of their own apartments and take comfort in the fact that they live in a supportive environment where they can count on those living around them.
As one resident says:
"The benefit of this type of living is there's always someone home - even though you have your own privacy there's always someone there, there's always company. And they also are on your own level. manWe're from different backgrounds-which is very interesting because you get to learn how other people live and where they come from - and after a while it just molds into one happy family. We realize that each one needs someone to talk to and so we talk to each other, we listen to each other - which is beautiful. And then I think that everybody sometimes needs a hug - so sometimes we hug each other."
At Coop I, ALA's first building and Coop II - The Lee and Ruth Rothman House, seniors are enjoying life to its fullest. At Coop I, residents are afforded the privacy of their own room and bath and come together as a family to enjoy a homecooked dinner that their longtime cook prepares at the house three evenings a week.
Another resident:
"There are a lot of people who are probably living alone and not liking it and being lonely - and you don't have to be that way. You come to a place like this and you're connected."
Near the beach in Santa Monica, residents of the Liffman House function like an extended family. Apartment mates enjoy each other's company in two bedroom, two bath apartments, but spend time together in larger groups.
Two of the residents, friends from 20 years back, found each other again and have had the pleasure of rekindling their friendship:
"I had always lived in Santa Monica-so I really wanted to come back home. And it was just wonderful that my upstairs neighbor was my old friend."
One resident says:
ASSISTED LIVING FOR DEMENTIAWhen your older family member has begun to experience the symptoms associated with dementia, this can be as stressful for you and the rest of ..... "Long ago, I left New York, left my family - a large family - and I came out here with two tiny children to start a new life and I loved California and I loved living here - but I had no real family. When I retired and ALA began to advertise the kind of concept that it was affording older people, I jumped right in - I was first and I waited and wanted this so badly - I really did. I guess we can't all say we win the lotto - but I won!"
Another way seniors are retaining their independence is through ALA's free Preinterviewed Housemate Matching Program. This model program for the aging - facilitates matching older people with others interested in sharing their house, condo, or apartment. It's a good solution for seniors who want to stay in their own homes, but could use a little companionship, financial help and/or physical help with everyday chores like shopping and cooking.
"We, as a nation, have to think about how we are going to house our elders, particularly as we baby boomers are becoming a significant portion of the population. I think we have to think about how to create places where older people cannot just be alone with worries or with aches 2 woman in libraryand pains, but can have neighbors around them to say 'How are you? How'd you sleep last night? Did you read that news article this morning? Come on in for a cup of coffee' - where people are not just living, but where they really have a good life."
http://www.alternativeliving.org/index.html
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