In my presentation at the LEADERS SUMMIT I screened an edited video from Beacon Hill in Boston.  It reaffirms my belief that the biggest challenge for retirement villages is the emerging opportunity for customers to simply stay at home.

The overwhelming driver of people seeking out retirement villages is a care incident (physical, financial or emotional) that causes people to look for an environment that will support them to the end of their life journey.

The key is the supportive environment.

Many will be aware of Beacon Hill which is the original Naturally Occurring Retirement Community (NORC). In simple terms a group of local residents banded together and agreed to pay $900 a year membership to cover the cost of a community manager, like a village manager, to coordinate their support in their own homes across a number of apartment and freestanding homes in the Beacon Hill district. The video celebrates their 10th anniversary.

The significant point is technology now makes this concept very real. Emergency call, in-home health monitoring, eHealth, home delivery of groceries and homecare provide the support of the traditional village.

Technology also provides the communication with other NORC members plus extended family.

And there is no DMF.

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