Larry Beresford, a member of Phoenix Commons in Oakland CA, recently had an article published on the website Next Avenue*. Called “A Commitment to Aging Well,” the article talks about what this means and how his senior cohousing community has pursued this aim. Larry is a freelance medical journalist and a member of the community’s Wellness Team. The article presented here is slightly edited and paraphrased.

As the community’s founding members were busy planning for its opening in March 2016, they realized that it made sense to talk about health and wellness and what “aging well” might actually look like in their setting. Thus, they formed the Wellness Team, whose members agreed that residents would be eager to better understand the changes that come with aging.

The team decided to plan monthly one-hour educational talks to provide information that was engaging and useful — things residents might actually put into practice. They began by compiling lists of subjects and then voting on which topics seemed most important and timely. Some of the more popular presentations have addressed advance care planning, getting important papers in order, caregiving concerns, fall prevention and hearing issues.

Part of planning the talks involved finding knowledgeable people to speak on the topics. They had to be willing to do so for free, as the community had no budget for honoraria. Sometimes the expert was a resident in the community. With members including an estate attorney, physical therapists, nurses, social workers, public school teachers, and a hospice chaplain, they had a lot of knowledge to share.

The team eventually decided it would be more efficient to have just one person [the author] lead the way in finding and communicating with possible speakers, maintaining the calendar, posting flyers, introducing the speakers and offering key questions for them to address. Ideas and suggestions were welcomed at the Wellness Team’s monthly planning sessions — and from anyone else in the community.

Common Approaches

For the article, Larry contacted three of the 20 other senior cohousing communities listed on the Coho US website. He found they were doing many of the same things as Phoenix Commons in facilitating wellness conversations.

PDX Commons in Portland OR has had a series of health-related teams over its almost eight years in existence. Their work has included a film program that chooses movies related to aging well plus an ongoing speakers program. Topics have ranged from death and dying to exercise and healthy eating to detecting and preventing scams.

  Silver Sage Village in Boulder CO, one of the nation’s first senior cohousing communities, has also brought in occasional speakers and held talks by community members. And Village Hearth Cohousing in Durham NC formed a care team that initially provided practical supportive services and eventually expanded to offer programs of interest to members. Topics have included the local transportation system, legal and end-of-life documents, and green burials.

Topics grow out of community experiences

The subject of a wellness talk can arise directly from something that happened within the community. For example, after several Phoenix Commons members had fallen and fractured limbs, they brought in a physical therapist to talk about how to prevent falls. She also taught them what to do after a fall:

• Take a breath and do a quick body scan to see whether and where you have pain.
• Get something solid like a chair to grasp, and with a friend standing by, slowly raise yourself, first to your knees and then to standing.
• If you can’t do that yourself, it’s time to call 911.

Another timely topic relates to the end of life. When facing a life-limiting illness, a few members have chosen hospice care. At least one turned to medical aid in dying (MAID), which is legal in California. Emotions around end-of-life choices run high. The Wellness Team recognized the importance of addressing them via talks by community experts who could explain the provisions of MAID and what hospice care entails. The Community has also scheduled a local death doula to talk about her work with the dying.

From the beginning, at board and team meetings, over communal dinners and in the hallways, Phoenix Commons residents have turned to discussions about aging, the limitations it imposes and the role of the community as a whole in helping with the needs of individuals. The Wellness Team lecture series has served to inform and expand these discussions and encourage the sharing of life experiences.

* Next Avenue [https://www.nextavenue.org/] is a nonprofit, digital journalism publication produced by Twin Cities PBS (TPT). As public media’s first and only national publication for older adults, we are dedicated to covering the issues that matter most as we age.

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