March 24, 2008|By Tanika White | Tanika White,Sun reporter
Joyce Paige is 72 and, by her own admission, getting a little frail. She'd like nothing more than to continue living in her Glen Burnie home, but without outside help, it could become more difficult the older she gets.
Paige could get that opportunity now that a group in Anne Arundel County is establishing a "virtual village" - a loose network of caregivers, volunteers and service providers - to assist Anne Arundel residents older than 55 who might one day need care. A Baltimore woman is also looking at establishing such a village in the city's Roland Park neighborhood.
The concept of virtual villages began six years ago in Beacon Hill, an established, affluent neighborhood in Boston. The idea is simple: For a yearly membership fee, older residents in a self-defined geographical region who are in need of rides, home maintenance, social activities, neighborly visits and so on, can count on a community of volunteers and village-vetted service providers to assist them.
Virtual villages are a product of the aging-in-place movement, a larger national effort among those who work with the growing elderly population. People over the age of 65 now represent about 13 percent of the population, experts said, but will make up 25 percent by 2040.
Proponents of aging-in-place say most seniors would prefer to stay in their homes as long as possible and that living at home is better for them as well as for the community.
"The villages are really a response to people in their 60s, 70s and 80s wanting to have control over where and how they are going to live in the years ahead," said Andrea Cohen, CEO of HouseWorks, a private home care company that provides services to help seniors stay in their homes - and contracts with the Beacon Hill Village. "Also, the aging baby boomers are really saying to themselves, `I want a sense of community.' For so much of our lives, you hardly know your neighbors; you're busy working. So you haven't built a community as much. So you're figuring out a way to create community now."
Since Beacon Hill opened its virtual "doors," four others have opened in Cambridge, Mass.; Palo Alto, Calif; Washington, D.C.; and New Canaan, Conn. And dozens are in the works, said Judy Willett, executive director of the Beacon Hill Village.
Locally, Partners in Care, a Severna Park-based nonprofit that helps older and disabled adults remain independent in their homes, plans to launch a prototype village in June. And Susan Newhouse, owner of Senior Solutions, a geriatric care management company in Roland Park, is looking for investors and helpers to get a virtual village up and running in the Northeast Baltimore neighborhood.
"While I love doing [personalized geriatric care management], there are certain things I can't do for my clients," Newhouse said. "I can't find them community - which is what people need."
Newhouse is in the beginning stages of brainstorming and planning the Roland Park village.
At Partners in Care, the process is further along.
Vendors have been contacted and a planning document is in place with a breakdown of how many employees the village will need (four, half time), how many seniors will need to sign up (150 to 300) to get it off the ground, and exactly what services the village will initially provide.
Maureen Cavaiola, co-founder of Partners in Care and village co-director, said one of the most important village services will be transportation - something the nonprofit already provides to many county seniors.
Maggy Cullman, 71, of Severna Park joined Partners in Care two years ago to be one of the group's designated volunteer "chauffeurs."
Cullman had at one time considered moving to San Francisco to be near one of her two daughters so that - in her frailer years - she'd have someone close by to tend to her. But the thought of leaving her longtime home and friends in Maryland made her depressed, she said.
Now Cullman is on that village's advisory board, helping to plan the June launch.
"I call it enlightened self-interest," Cullman said. "I want to see it done right ... so it will be there for me."
Paige now calls Partners in Care when she needs a ride to doctor visits or other appointments. The couple who often takes Paige to and fro - Nancy and Bill Kayser - are themselves seniors (she's 68; he's 75), who want to use their retirement to serve others.
In addition, Nancy Kayser said, "I'm sure the time is going to come when we're going to need help, also."
Partners in Care officials call the relationship between the Kaysers and Paige "intentional reciprocity;" Newhouse calls it "care exchange." Both say such practices will be hallmarks of the villages they hope to create.
In both the Roland Park and Anne Arundel County models, volunteers will donate their time to others; those same people will receive assistance or kindness when they need it most.
