50+ by Bill Novelli

Author:Bill Novelli
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780312355241
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

MOBILITY FOR LIFE

Our community is the place where we as older

individuals can be most effective. In no other

place can we gain so much cooperation and

win so many champions and supporters.

—Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus

Let’s imagine that we have all found a way to buy and/or modify our homes and those of our parents for age-friendly living. We are now set for life, right? Well, not quite. Living the good life as we age means more than having a smartly designed and constructed roof over our heads. We also need mobility outside our homes. We have to be able to get out and around and to stay connected to our communities. And that is one of the toughest obstacles to aging in place.

So much of personal independence derives from our ability to move freely around our communities. America has often been called an automobile society, and it’s largely true. To find yourself, for whatever reason, cut off from mainstream mobility, no longer part of America’s freewheeling ease, is especially frustrating—and ageifying—because, in the United States, there’s usually no getting from here to there without a car. If we can’t get to our jobs or volunteer activities . . . if we can’t visit friends, go walking or go to church, or run down to the hardware store for screws to fix the screen door . . . if we can’t get to the dentist, the hospital, or the supermarket on our own, our lives become hostage to the convenience of those we must rely on to transport us. Our cherished quality of life is diminished along with a vital piece of our independence.

One of our AARP board members, Dr. Byron Thames, tells of a nurse who retired at 62. She and her 65-year-old husband moved to what they thought was their ideal retirement home in an idyllic little town with just one traffic light. It was charming, quiet, and—unbeknownst to them—a threat to their mobility. The woman had a touch of arthritis, nothing serious, and her husband had some macular degeneration but could still drive—a necessity for reaching the closest commercial center, and doctor, eight miles away.

Within two years, though, ideal and idyllic were trumped by isolation. He had to stop driving, and she was having a hard time getting in and out of the car. Far away from family and friends, they had no recreation, no social life, and no way even to get to the food store. Byron and his wife, Judy, visited their friends on weekends and brought groceries, but the shut-ins had to make do without any extras between visits. The nurse began to put on weight, worsening her arthritis. Her husband went from having a couple of drinks before dinner to frequent cocktails throughout the day. The couple ended up having to sell their house and move to a town with buses, taxis, and easy access to physicians, stores, and other necessities.

The Bill of Rights says nothing specific about mobility, but in a culture founded by adventurous

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