GRANNY PODS/MED PODS for our aging parents. Have you seen these?

CBS News November 27, 2012, 10:38 AM
"Granny pods": Inside housing alternative for aging loved ones        
(CBS News) AARP says about 23 million Americans take care of their elderly parents. Many of them have to choose between letting aging parents live alone or moving them into a nursing home.
Now there's now another option that brings families closer -- even if they're not living under the same roof.
When Viola Baez began to need constant care last winter, her daughter Soccorrito Page, would not even consider moving her to a nursing home. Baez told everyone for years, no nursing homes -- not ever.
Page said, "Whenever we had to visit somebody who was in a nursing home, or we drove past one, she said, 'I don't want to be in a place like that.' "
She said it was a "very, very clear" instruction.
Page wanted her mother to live nearby their Alexandria, Va. home, and wanted her to have some independence, so she bought a portable apartment called a "MedCottage." She put the cottage in the yard, right outside the kitchen window and built a 20-foot walkway so Baez can come and go at will.
Page said, "It's her space, but it's still with us."
The MedCottage is basically a three-room apartment equipped like a hospital room. There are safety rails, lighted floorboards, and a wall with a first-aid kit and defibrillator machine. The structure also comes with three built-in cameras, including one in the ceiling overlooking the kitchen. There's also a camera that's mounted in the floor, and is designed to alert the family in the event that Baez falls.
Ken Dupin, who founded the company, says MedCottage is the formal name for his product, but it's not what most people call it. It's been known as "the Granny pod."
"That wasn't our name," he said. "You don't get to choose your nickname."
Whatever the apartment is called, Dupin believes he's found an answer for millions of baby boomers who are facing both their own retirements and the need to care for their parents.
Dupin said, "We wanted to say, 'There's got to be a better way to do this,' particularly as it involves family. And we feel that this is a very American solution."
The solution can be expensive. Page's cottage cost $125,000, but Page figured that a nursing home would cost more than $60,000 a year, and take Baez where she didn't want to be.
So what does Baez think of her new house? She said, "Well, as long as I live with my family, it's OK."
For Baez, the cottage outside the window represents the safety and care she always wanted, but for millions of other Americans, it's a possible glimpse of the future.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/granny-pods-inside-housing-alternative-for-aging-loved-ones/

Syl wrote:They look nice, similar to our static caravans or lodges, many of which are as roomy and well equipped as a modern bungalow.
They would be ideal for someone who wants to keep their independence and doesn't need or want full time care.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:They look nice, similar to our static caravans or lodges, many of which are as roomy and well equipped as a modern bungalow.
They would be ideal for someone who wants to keep their independence and doesn't need or want full time care.

Have you seen the internal layout?   A bathroom and a bedsit?   No thanks.

Syl wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

Have you seen the internal layout?   A bathroom and a bedsit?   No thanks.

But a lot of elderly people don't use lots of rooms.....maybe some would like the compactness of it.
The middle one looks as big as a static, ours is 3 bedroom, open lounge with kitchen area, shower room and separate toilet, front and back patio doors....so I imagine they could be customised to suit.

Syl wrote:Well we all see things from our own experiences.
My own mum was very independent, she never wanted to live with us.
We even offered to build a flat for her over the garage, but she flatly refused.
When she needed full time care she still wouldn't come, so eventually she went into a small residential home.
I think if there had been a separate place for her to live...like the granny pod, she MAY have considered that.

Syl wrote:It's nice to have the choice, that's probably what my mum would have wanted...she never wanted to lose her independence, but that's not the way it panned out.

I'm like you (and I suspect the majority) as soon as my mental/physical faculties desert me I don't want to be around anymore.....hopefully the law will have changed by then to make it easier than it is now.

HoratioTarr wrote:

Syl wrote:It's nice to have the choice, that's probably what my mum would have wanted...she never wanted to lose her independence, but that's not the way it panned out.

I'm like you (and I suspect the majority) as soon as my mental/physical faculties desert me I don't want to be around anymore.....hopefully the law will have changed by then to make it easier than it is now.

I think the elderly should be encouraged to be independent for as long as they can.   After that, and if ill health makes their lives a misery, then we all have the right to a dignified death.

Syl wrote:

HoratioTarr wrote:

I think the elderly should be encouraged to be independent for as long as they can.   After that, and if ill health makes their lives a misery, then we all have the right to a dignified death.

Yes exactly.
I read a story the other day of an elderly man who was bed ridden but still living at home by himself. He had a care package in place, 4 visits a day to see to his needs. He was admitted to hospital but sent home the same day.
The carers thought he was still in hospital, the hospital didn't know he needed the care package....between them they ballsed it up.
He lay in bed for 4 days in his own bodily mess, when he was eventually found (alive) he had tried to kill himself by smashing a photo frame and cutting his wrists and legs.

I cried when I read that.

Syl wrote:
Yes exactly.
I read a story the other day of an elderly man who was bed ridden but still living at home by himself. He had a care package in place, 4 visits a day to see to his needs. He was admitted to hospital but sent home the same day.
The carers thought he was still in hospital, the hospital didn't know he needed the care package....between them they ballsed it up.
He lay in bed for 4 days in his own bodily mess, when he was eventually found (alive) he had tried to kill himself by smashing a photo frame and cutting his wrists and legs.

I cried when I read that.