PAX Centurion - January / February 2013

www.bppa.org PAX CENTURION • January/February 2013 • Page 41 BPPA RETIRED PATROLMEN’S DIVISION MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION Date:_ ____________________________________________ Name:____________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________ City, State, Zip:_ ___________________________________ Home Phone:_ ____________________________________ Cell Phone:_ ______________________________________ Date of Appointment:______________________________ Date of Retirement:________________________________ Email:_ ___________________________________________ Annual Dues are $24.00. The year runs from March to March. Please mail this application and $24.00 annual dues to the: BPPA Retired Patrolmen’s Division 9-11 Shetland Street, Boston, MA 02119 life with her late husband. At times, she struggles for words, but when they come, they flow in a rush, sometimes in Spanish. She chuckles with pride when she recalls driving a motorcycle on her honeymoon in Florida, and then becomes somber in a swift change of mood. Tears well in her eyes one afternoon as she explains that she is in “luto,” wearing only black or dark clothing as a sign of mourning. “He treated me like I was a queen,” she says of her husband. “Without him, nothing is special. Nothing.” Overhead, a small green light blinks, an indicator that one of the MedCottage’s surveillance cameras is powered up and that perhaps an additional family member is watchingViola, too. Design elements S everal firms have entered the market for auxiliary dwelling units, or ADUs, as they’re known in the building industry. These include FabCab, a Seattle-based company that makes ADUs and full-size homes. Practical Assisted Living Solutions, or PALS, a firm based in Meriden, Conn., makes freestanding modules; and the Home Store, which is headquartered inWhately, Mass., sells modular “in-law” additions called “Elderly Cottage Housing Oppor- tunity” additions. The MedCottage in Fairfax is about 12 by 24 feet, the size of a typical master bedroom. With its beige aluminum siding — and cos- metic touches such as green shutters — the cottage looks a little like an elaborate dollhouse. The interior, painted gray and white, seems so airy and comfortable that Socorrito jokes about reusing the dwelling someday as a mountain cabin. The idea for the MedCottage came from the Rev. Kenneth J. Du- pin, a minister in southwest Virginia who wondered whyAmericans didn’t take better care of their elders. He created N2Care, a company that designed the MedCottage with help from the Virginia Tech Corporate Research Center. They stuffed its steel shell with the latest in biometric and communications technology, and crafted its features using universal design principles to accommodate people of all ages and people with disabilities. The company’s sales pitch includes drop- ping an egg onto its specially designed floor from a height of 7 feet to show that the egg won’t break. “People think it’s a rubber egg until we hold it over a hard surface and drop it from 5 inches,” said Chris M. Cummins, executive vice president of MedCare Systems, a Mechanicsville, Va.-based distribu- tor. In addition to surveillance cameras, the dwelling has an Internet portal by which family members, doctors or other caregivers can monitor an occupant’s vital signs, receive medical alerts or change the dwelling’s temperature and security settings. The MedCottage retails for about $85,000, but with delivery and installation, Viola’s family has spent closer to $125,000. “Most people look at that and get sticker shock,” Cummins said. But Cummins also said that the company offers financing and repurchase programs that make the MedCottage a bargain compared with assisted-living facilities that charge $40,000 or more a year. Family drama V iola’s family is close-knit. Soc recalls taking her daughters, Erin and Shannon, to the Kennedy Center for a National Symphony Orchestra concert when the girls were so little that they listened while perched in car seats. Although Erin, 30, is now a lawyer and Shannon, 28, teaches in Fairfax schools, the family still goes to the symphony en masse, and From Elders on page 40 Keeping elders close, in the backyard the daughters still live in the family’s 1972 split-level onVengo Court. The family is strikingly candid about the stress that comes with Viola’s daily care. Her physical problems include spinal stenosis, arthri- tis and asthma, and she takes about 16 medications. Relatives sayViola has traits that would challenge any caregiver, and some have become more conspicuous with age. She is moodier now, and needier. When Viola went into an assisted-living facility temporarily for physical therapy after a fall, she threw a fit that lasted hours. Soc calmed her by promising not to leave. Soc stayed for so long every day that eventually administrators told Soc the arrangement could not continue. “She’s very clingy, very persnickety about things,” Soc said. Viola’s late husband, Luis Baez, also pampered her. He was a first lieutenant in theArmy when they married. Later, as a civilian architect for the Navy and the Coast Guard, he helped design the Westwind class of icebreakers. In the 1950s, he andViola bought an Arlington County duplex. But their home became difficult to maneu- ver as they aged. About the time Luis began thinking of alternatives, he became ill with rapidly progressing renal cancer. Soc and David began discussing whether Viola would move in, whether to build an addition, or whether Viola should go into an assisted-living residence. Viola and Luis disliked nursing homes, and Soc’s property was not well suited for an addition. Then Soc read about the MedCottage, which Luis endorsed before his death. When Luis, 82, died Feb. 28, Viola’s granddaughters took turns staying at herArlington home while Soc and David arranged the Med- Cottage purchase. ThenViola moved into the house onVengo Court. But there were problems. Living in the family’s dining room, Viola disliked being so close to the kitchen when people were cooking. She complained about getting around in the house, saying that there were too many steps, not enough handrails, and that the shower was hard to access. She fought over the thermostat setting because she was too cold, even when everyone else was sweating. And she hated being alone. She wouldn’t shower unless someone was nearby. See Elders on page 43