Is the MEDCottage right for your grandma? Or you in 2030?

Just as I dug into the newest idea in housing for the elderly, something was amiss with that product's website. Did broken links at MEDCottage.com indicate website malfunction or some unknown online zoning laws unlinking the little elder cottage from caretaker's back yards? Maybe neither, since eventually the site was working again.

Here's the MEDCottage concept by way of a Washington Post article since the MEDCottage website wasn't forthcoming with information: "A 12-by-24-foot prototype filled with biometric technology that would allow a family and health-care providers to monitor the condition of an aging or disabled relative. The cottage contains air-filtration systems, video links, devices that allow the remote monitoring of vital signs and sensors that could detect an occupant's fall."

The rental unit can be moved into the caretaker's back yard and connected with the home's electricity and plumbing for as long as needed. The cost? $2,000 per month. The theory is that elderly family or friends would rather be in a separate unit that monitors their every move than actually live with people or go to an assisted living facility or nursing home.

Zoning laws seem to be the biggest hurdle. What will the neighbors think when another dwelling is moved onto a city lot? How will the unit's plumbing affect sewer function?

I think the bigger question is whether this is really the way grandma or grandpa would want to live. Most opt to stay in their own homes because of emotional attachment and familiarity. Moving into a strange dwelling in an unfamiliar neighborhood, however comfortable it might be, differs little from moving into any other assistance facility; except that they will be alone.

This opinion was expressed in a forum comment. "That's the problem with the whole concept of the Granny Shack; if the condition of your health is such that you need your vital signs monitored 24/7, you do not need to be stuck out in a box in the backyard by yourself. For that matter, if there isn't at least one person in the family home at all times, why would you allow them to go off and leave an elderly or disabled person alone in a glorified garden shed like the family dog?"

"Nursing homes were developed to provide us with the care we need when age and disabilities are too severe for us to care for ourselves," said Lakewood Health System Medical Director Dr. John Halfen in the summer 2010 Lakewood publication Words For the Wise. "They keep us as healthy as possible, providing shelter, food, medical care, nursing care housekeeping, multiple different therapies, recreation and social settings."

Nursing home care comes at a pretty steep cost. If the MEDCottage is billed as a safe and less expensive alternative for our aging population, does that make it the best option?

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