Angel and Richard Nicoletti’s house perches on top of a hill overlooking Granite Lake. Wide windows, a spiral staircase, a cozy living room and three bedrooms for their adult children were a few features the couple included when they built the house 10 years ago.
With such a comfortable arrangement, it’s no wonder Angel, 79, and Richard, 78, would rather stay in their home than move into an assisted living facility.
At least, that’s their plan.
With the help of Cheshire Village @ Home, a Keene Senior Center program, their plan will be realized.
The upcoming initiative aims to keep people over the age of 50 living independently in their homes with services provided by volunteers as needed.
Transportation, minor home repairs, social activities and trips are some of the services that will be provided through the new program.
Officially approved by Keene Senior Center board of directors on Dec. 15, 2016, the new program is scheduled to launch June 1.
Pegg Monahan, executive director at the Keene Senior Center on Court Street, said the idea was modeled after the national Village to Village network, as well as the local Monadnock at Home program based out of Jaffrey. The Keene Senior Center received a $2,000 grant from the David and Charlotte Lesser Family Foundation to help launch the program.
“This program is really for those people who want to stay in their own homes and live independently,” Monahan said.
“We’re interested in providing services for the seniors in the community, but as a senior center, we need to reach beyond our own walls, and this is a way of providing services. The silver tsunami is aging and coming into retirement, and it is huge,” Monahan said.
The program will provide services to elders in Alstead, Chesterfield, Gilsum, Hinsdale, Keene, Marlow, Nelson, Richmond, Roxbury, Stoddard, Sullivan, Surry, Swanzey, Troy, Westmoreland and Winchester.
For $400 per-year-per-household, members can stay in their homes and continue living as is — with help when wanted or needed — and receive a membership to the Keene Senior Center.
According to the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, the average daily cost for a private room in a nursing home is $213, totaling $6,390 per month and $77,745 annually. The average monthly cost of living in assisted living communities is $2,969 or $35,628 annually. And the average cost of living in a not-for-profit continuing care retirement community is $2,672 per month or $32,064 annually.
The Nicolettis considered living at Rivermead Lifecare Community in Peterborough, as well as the upcoming Hillside Village continuing-care retirement community, but estimated it would cost at least a few thousand dollars per year. Rivermead was unable to comment on its pricing information by press time.
Angel and Richard are the first members of the Cheshire Village @ Home program, and although they aren’t using services yet, they’re planning for their future.
“There comes a time when planning for this becomes important,” Angel said, “and it’s hard to be in denial.”
They think transportation and handyman services will be the most useful to them. The Nicolettis live roughly 15 miles from Keene, and household chores like cleaning their wide windows or changing light bulbs on the high ceiling of their living room pose concerns.
“In a year or two who knows, it might be worrisome,” Richard said, thinking about using a ladder to change the lights.
Angel thinks the program will be most helpful for seniors who live alone. She explained that elders lose their independence when they lose the ability to drive and that the transportation will be the program’s most important service.
Precise plans for the services are being dealt with by various committees of the Cheshire Village @ Home subcommittees.
Monahan expressed there’s already interest in the program, which was created nearly nine months ago.
At the first outreach meeting held at the Keene Senior Center in November, nearly 60 people — seniors and prospective volunteers alike— showed interest in the program.
On Wednesday, the Cheshire Village @ Home committee will host an outreach meeting at the Westmoreland Town Hall at 2 p.m. A second meeting will be held later this month in Nelson at a residence.
For information about the meetings or the Cheshire Village @ Home program, call Pegg Monahan at the Keene Senior Center at 603-352-5037 or email her at www.thekeeneseniorcenter.org.
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