Elders

Topics to Touch
Building a hospice type building or a residence more accessible for elders. Taking care of those who have loved ones near the end of life.

How will a person's labor contribution change as they age? Is this determined by policy or by their own needs and choices?

Caring for elders- building care teams (willing to deal with potentially gross shit), bringing in medical skills from outside, facilities and supplies to meet elder needs, building basic care knowledge, special diets, emotional care, support animals.

Preparing a surplus to take care of elders when they are less able to contribute/being productive enough as a community to provide for those who can no longer work (also for those w/ injuries)

Keeping elders engaged- providing age appropriate work and recreation. Bringing activities and decision making spaces close to where elders live.

Keeping elders feeling integrated into the larger community

How to take care of an elder if the community does not have the proper resources? How to proceed when an elder's needs move beyond the community's capabilities (advanced care)

Ceremonies for passing elders- on site graveyard (regulations)?

Special roles for elders- sources of wisdom? Story tellers?'

Ageism and treatment of elders.

Stubbornness/elders insisting on courses of action that are bad for their own health or difficult for others to accommodate. To what degree may the community make decisions on their behalf for their own health and to make their care manageable for other community members?

When someone is no longer able to make their own care decisions (due to mental conditions?)

Transportation/accessibility- getting scooters or golf carts for mobility, transpiration to doctors appointments, designing community infrastructure to be accessible.

Cleanliness- how can the community be kept safe for sensitive immune systems?

Age cap policy- rules about how old accepted new members may be.

Resources
"On Becoming Elders" from Communities Magazine

"Elderhood In and Out of Community" from Communities Magazine

"It Takes a Community to Grow an Elder" from Communities Magazine

"Embracing a Terminal Illness" from Communities Magazine