When aging in place is out-of-place. Aging in place may not be for everyone, as the University of Florida's Stephen Golant noted: 48% of seniors spend more than half their income on housing -- 14% of the 75+ still have mortgages. Separated by distance from adult children, perhaps they suffer from isolation and poor health and other downsides that Dr. Golant spells out in some detail. He recommends that moving out of one's own home need not be viewed as a tragedy, suggesting options like NORCs or village approaches for shared services, moving in with family members, or moving to a smaller home or condo.
Care.com said Tuesday that it has closed $20 million in funding led by New Enterprise Associates. Existing investors Matrix Partners and Trinity Ventures joined in the round. Waltham, Mass.-Care.com is an online services where uses can find caregivers for children, seniors or pets. New Enterprise Associates is a Menlo Park, Calif-based VC firm.
Transportation, respite services, support for caregivers, home care, affordable services and increased awareness were cited as areas needing attention.
Tech coalitions -- small steps to the start of a community service? Last week was the start of a new Forum category, Community Coalitions About Aging Technology, with San Diego County as the first entrant - 'to help local organizations become more familiar with technologies that could help seniors in the county.' Soon to have their first meeting, Denise Nelesen spoke about the intent, which is to bring local organizations up to speed on what products are out there. She is particularly interested in moving beyond 'computers in libraries' to other categories of products that could be useful to seniors. If others have similar local initiatives and ideas about how to do this, please post in the forum.