A wonderful example of American ingenuity can be found in the Beacon Hill Village Project in Boston beaconhillvillage.org where a group of individuals with little or no family, banded together to form a plan which enables them to stay and age in their neighborhoods. Together they hire their own staff to perform home repairs, provide medical care, deliver groceries/medicines and other tasks depending on the needs of the group.  They rent space for lectures, music events and book reviews designed to enrich their member's lives. Member's pay an annual fee of $675 for a single membership and $975 for a household. The Village Project was formed on the principle that their members want to remain fully integrated into their beloved communities living among all age groups and not in isolation found in many senior living communities. They also formed a national organization to advise others across the country on how to start their own Beacon Hill Village Project in both urban and rural settings.
 This concept could be very appealing to the millions of Baby Boomers who are beginning to face their own aging issues, as the first of the Boomers born in 1946 hit 65 in 2011. In my circle of friends some of those who are childless have expressed concern over who will take care of them in their advanced years. The Beacon Hill Village concept could be an alternative for those who want to remain in the communities they love or something similar to the "Golden Girls" where friends pool their  resources together and live in a communal type situation. One thing is certain that the Baby Boomer generation will do things different than their parent's and shape it to their needs where they have control over their health and lifestyle, not confined to the traditional models of  geriatric care.