Seniors Cohousing Letter to the Editor

I'm pretty proud of this letter to the editor.  It is in response to an article telling people to educate themselves about the choices for their seniors loved ones.  I wrote this and was published withine hours of writing it!

Dear Editor,

I would like to respond to an article you published, headlined “Making the right choices, the costs of seniors’ care.”

A friend has sent me a clipping of this article in relation to work I am currently doing in the area.

This article is advocating that people educate themselves thoroughly on behalf of their senior loved ones.

The article seems to suggest doing this education once the individual involved has already lost some degree of ability.

Of course, this is important. We all want to take care of our loved ones.

But what about taking care of and educating ourselves before we come to the place of need?

Studies show that by making changes when we are in our 60s and even in our 50s, it goes a long way to increasing quality of life and the ability to age in place successfully.

Downsizing while you have the energy to do so, finding a community to age with and consciously deciding how the next 20 years will play out can possibly add 10 years to your life,

It will definitely increase the quality of life as we age.

We are offering a 10-week study group for people who are seriously considering making proactive changes in their lifestyle, before they lose whichever capacity might fail them first.

The problem we find is that while people are willing to consider their senior loved ones as they age, there seems to be a genuine resistance to considering our own needs in time to ward off extended care needs down the road.

I seriously urge your readers who are beyond the young age of 50 to take time to educate and plan for their own aging.  While looking at such depressing subjects feels awkward when we feel fit, now is the time to do it.

Our aging in place study group is geared towards 50- to 65-year-olds who are interested in downsizing and working with others to design their own future residence.

By joining peers and going through this developer-assisted process, one assures oneself the ability to stay “young at heart” longer through a supportive community.

I’d love an opportunity to share our process with readers. I can be contacted via email at welcome@yarrowecovillage.ca

Vivian Vaillant

We’re-Not-Seniors Seniors’ Cohousing

We’re-Not-Seniors Seniors’ Cohousing

Are you, like me, and tucking a few more years under your belt? ... feeling mature, and still capable, but knowing that if you’re to age gracefully you need to plan a home and community that still keeps your quality of life high in your latter years? Or ... do you know someone else like this?

Then you, (or they), will be interested in
Yarrow Ecovillage’s 50+ Cohousing First Organising Gathering

For meeting like-minded folks ready to share their energy and get this going.

Saturday June 19th 2pm to 4pm
Yarrow Ecovillage
3 upper -42312 Yarrow Central Road

RSVP or questions ...Ann ... 604-823-0232
Refreshments will be served

Friday, June 4, at Chilliwack's Evergreen Hall

"Cohousing, a new, old way of living"

The Abbotsford Times published this article on January 12. The newspaper did not have room for all of Tom's pictures, so I've added them here:

Another great article was published in the Chilliwack Progress on January 12 as well. Read it here.