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Assisted living, nursing homes strike sour note with America's elderly. (The Nation).


When it comes to being cared for in their old age, senior citizens think there's no place like their own homes.

An assisted living as·sist·ed living
n.
A living arrangement in which people with special needs, especially older people with disabilities, reside in a facility that provides help with everyday tasks such as bathing, dressing, and taking medication.
 facility is one of the last places a senior wants to spend his or her days.

Those were key findings in the National Older Adult Housing Survey, conducted this year by the National Association of Home Builders The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is one of the largest trade associations in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, DC, the association organizes one of the largest conventions in North America, The International Builders' Show, which draws more than  Research Center and the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University Harvard University, mainly at Cambridge, Mass., including Harvard College, the oldest American college. Harvard College


Harvard College, originally for men, was founded in 1636 with a grant from the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
 in Cambridge, Mass.

The study, which examined the preferences of home buyers age 45 and above, discovered that home-buying seniors have an extreme dislike of the assisted living concept--in sharp contrast to the opinions of their children.

Based on these results, "almost nobody is going gangbusters to live in an assisted living facility," Joint Center Executive Vice President Eric Belsky said.

Of the 2,300 survey respondents In the context of marketing research, a representative sample drawn from a larger population of people from whom information is collected and used to develop or confirm marketing strategy. , only 2 percent of persons age 45 to 54 selected assisted living as their accommodations of choice. The numbers didn't improve much as the prospective buyer got older: A mere 3 percent of those 55 to 64, 5 percent of 65- to 74year-olds and 10 percent of seniors age 75-plus said they would live in an assisted living facility.

Most seniors view assisted living as the first step toward old age and infirmity Flaw, defect, or weakness.

In a legal sense, the term infirmity is used to mean any imperfection that renders a particular transaction void or incomplete. For example, if a deed drawn up to transfer ownership of land contains an erroneous description of it, an
, Belsky said. "It's an admission that you can't live independently anymore.

Belsky added that the findings also reinforce the belief that seniors will do whatever they need to in order to stay in their current homes as they age- such as adding features that improve their safety, comfort, mobility and accessibility.

Assisted living facilities aren't the only places experiencing upturned noses from seniors. Nursing homes nationwide are losing out to seniors' own homes for long term care. Moreover, many states are encouraging the over-55 to seek home health care instead of facility-based help:

* In a statewide poll, 77 percent of responding Michigan residents said they would rather receive long term care at home . Two percent of survey respondents said they would choose a nursing home.

* In an effort to reduce Massachusetts residents' over-reliance on nursing homes--and cut Medicaid expenses--the state in 2002 enacted the Community Choices program, which since Nov. 1 has diverted 300 seniors from nursing homes to in-home care, saving Massachusetts about $18,000 per senior.

* Legislation approved by the Indiana state legislature A state legislature may refer to a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system.

The following legislatures exist in the following political subdivisions:
 in April encourages families to care for their elderly at home. The bill, awaiting signature by Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon Frank Lewis O'Bannon (1930-2003) was an American politician who was Governor of Indiana from 1997 until his death, on September 13, 2003. Background
O'Bannon was a native of Corydon, Indiana (the first state capital of Indiana), where his family owned the
, requires the state to pay for seniors who choose to switch to home care beginning in July 2005. Prior to the bill, many families claimed they kept relatives in nursing homes because they couldn't afford to lose state Medicaid funds Noun 1. Medicaid funds - public funds used to pay for Medicaid
cash in hand, finances, funds, monetary resource, pecuniary resource - assets in the form of money
 available only through nursing homes.
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Title Annotation:National Older Adult Housing Survey results state that seniors would prefer to live in their own homes
Author:Naditz, Alan
Publication:Contemporary Long Term Care
Geographic Code:1USA
Date:May 1, 2003
Words:453
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