In a science fiction series I wrote called Hub City Blues, I postulated the idea of a technologically-advanced city where modern ideas of work, life, and care for the elderly were considerably different than they are today.
In my futuristic city, there was employment for everyone and part of that employment dealt with the rotation of infrastructure work, the most important part of any city’s underlying operation.
In youth, no longer were you tied to a single occupation, while you were in high school and early college level work, you did a variety of duties over the years and when a particular calling became yours, either through invention of a new idea or by education or skill set, you could specialize in said field harnessing your talents.
These early years included growing food in aquaponic facilities, mentoring and educating younger children assisting with socialization and educational support, city maintenance, civic artistic beautification and care for the elderly just to name a few. Instead of having students thinking about how their city would function, they were directly involved in it.
One of the ideas I had was the creation of integrated healthcare in the city. Instead of hiding the elderly in low-quality senior centers, they were living in housing surrounded by younger citizens who would as part of their occupational grid of duties help care for them.
You were assigned a team, a medical professional to train and lead you, a group of Elders you would provide service for, cooking, cleaning, health and life support duties as needed. You would have an Elder Ombudsman who knew the community and who needed what and would train new students in the idiosyncrasies of their clients. Students who found this line of work stimulating would choose to become home-care aids, and enter the line of Nursing and Medical Care with some becoming nurse-practitioners or even doctors.
However, rather than having young people simply funneled into the military or dead-end service jobs, this gave them the opportunity to work with their Elders, learning from them, working with them and remaining mindful of the fact they too would one day become elderly and need the care this system provided. Not everyone would stay in the nursing line, however, but as long as new students were in going to high school, there would be both an awareness of the aging citizenry and an increased activity around their care and well-being, reducing costs overall, while promoting civic engagement by all involved.
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Yes, this is a just a story, but it’s one where we need to consider the ramifications of dealing with the elderly, the infirm and other citizens whose cost to support is currently falling on an overburdened medical industry and on family members to handle. The creation of “intentional communities” where citizens are supported by the government and create a method of caring for and supporting members of our society in need, must be developed and soon, before the ability to support those members of our society, eclipse the capacity needed for their care.
Everyone is growing older. It can’t be helped. What are you doing to prepare yourself and your family for the potential challenges of caring for you or yours in times of crisis. The ideas I had for “Intentional Communities” don’t seem as far-fetched as they once did, and perhaps it’s time to consider their implementation as the cost of medical care and the number of people needing it continues to rise.
Several friends and I have talked about buying a building and creating this kind of community of participants who would provide support for each other and then offering local hospitals the opportunity to provide training and educational opportunities to their young residents and nurses who need patient hours for their careers.
This could be a lower cost model than our current one and provide medical, psychological and emotional support for families and friends who are alone in their struggles to care for their loved ones.
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