What is MEDCottage?

 According to the study, America’s elderly population will double in the next 10 years. Older people will have to live with their families, in nursing homes or somewhere else.

The decision to leave a home and move to the old age facility is not only difficult for the elderly but also difficult for the rest of the family. No one wants to put their parents in old age homes, but sometimes you don’t have the capacity to take care of them. To co-op up with this situation, Americans have built a pod equipped with the latest technology that can be placed in your backyard. It is named Medcottage or granny pod. Medcottage places your loved ones close to the home and meanwhile enjoys their freedom. 

What is MEDcottage?

 Medcottage is a portable hospital room with a highly advanced facility made available in your backyard, fitted with the latest technology. It consists of 

 1. A living room

 2. A washroom

 3. A kitchenette. 

 It comes in different sizes mostly available in 12 feet by 24 feet sizes. You can also choose the one that fits you best. Medcottage has one time cost around $85,000 to $125,000. 

 Facilities in Medcottage

 Medcottage is fitted with the following latest functions.

1. Health monitoring system can keep the track of your health indicators by monitoring the vital signs.
2. Smart home features enable you to control lighting, air conditioner, and security system remotely.
3. Virtual assistant caregiver that reminds the occupant to take medications on time. It can also contact the health care provider immediately when needed.
4. Sensors are installed in the pods that alert the caregivers about the occupant’s fall.
5. Occupants can communicate with the outside with high-tech video devices.
6. Entertainment system offers a selection of music, movies and reading material.
7. Ventilation system that filters the air and removes germs from it.
8. While building these pods, all the safety codes are met to make them safe for living.

 Benefits of MEDcottage

1. People find old age homes very expensive. Better services are available with extra cost. The majority of old age people pay for the services from their pensions and get the remaining amount from their children. Most of the time their children don’t have enough money to pay for the services. Medcottage is a one-time investment. There aren’t cheap investments but can prove money savers over a couple of years.
2. Due to the busy routine and increased workload, children are unable to visit the old-age homes daily. Sometimes, old age homes are far from their homes. By keeping the elderly in the medcottage in the backyard of your home, any member of the family can visit them anytime and check on them.
3. In large cities, people always have a shortage of space in their houses. Medcottage is a portable pod that can be placed in a certain area of the house not consuming much space.
4. Many people raised concerns about throwing their loved ones in the backyard. This statement seems convincing but it is far from the facts. First of all, medcottages are better than old age homes as they placed our loved one close to our homes. Secondly, it is equipped with the latest facilities and provides quality health care. Lastly, the elderly want to live their life independently and these pods can give them all the independence.

Better Care for Seniors

The Reverend Kenneth Dupin, a Methodist minister from Salem, VA, gets credit for the Granny Pod concept, though that’s not what he called the units. (According to the Washington Post, credit for that goes to a Fairfax County supervisor who equated the pods to storage containers.)

As the story goes, after visiting a depressed parishioner whose family had moved her to a nursing home, Rev. Dupin decided America should do better for its aging population. He founded a company, N2Care, and, working with Virginia Tech Research Center in Blacksburg, VA, designed the MEDCottage, now known as the granny pod.

Though several versions now exist, the basic MEDCottage is about 12 by 24 feet, or the size of a master bedroom, has vinyl siding, double French doors (to accommodate a wheelchair and hospital equipment) and looks like a small bungalow. Inside, it resembles a hotel suite, with living space, small kitchen and bathroom.

Though the initial cost may seem steep, proponents point out that nursing home care is also expensive, costing upwards of $50,000 a year for a semi-private room, depending on location, and the company will buy back the units when no longer needed.

Granny pods and other auxiliary dwelling units, or ADUs, offer a blend of independence and 24/7 caregiving, plus closeness to family and friends instead of isolation in a distant nursing home.

Helping Meet the Care Need

More practically, these modular medical care units may be essential to providing care for the soaring numbers of seniors, a number the Census Bureau predicts will more than double from 35 million in 2000 to more than 70 million by 2030.

Since Genworth, a firm specializing in long-term care and life insurance, predicts that at least 70 percent of the nation’s elderly will require long-term care at some time in their lives, the nation’s current 15,700 long-term care facilities may not be sufficient to meet the need. Something more is needed and these self-contained medical units could meet that need.

The MEDCottage, the original granny pod, may have received the most publicity, but as the auxiliary care unit idea has caught on, others have entered the field. Among the other versions are ASAPs, or Architectural Solutions for Aging Populations, developed by an architectural firm in San Francisco. Fab Cab in Seattle also has a pre-fabricated version, as do PALS (Practical Assisted Living Solutions) in Rockfall, Conn., and ECHOAs or Elderly Cottage Housing Opportunity Additions. Larson Shores, an architecture firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, provides pre-designed in-law cottages that are accessible, affordable, and sustainable, and built on the owner’s property.

 Conclusion

 Medcottage or Granny Pods are designed in such a way as to provide the best healthcare to your old parents and keep them close to their homes. These mobile pods are equipped with the latest technology and have all the facilities that aren’t available in nursing or old-age home.