Hartford, CT -- Faced with a growing number of aging boomer members with more complex family arrangements than generations in the past, MasoniCare -- the Grand Lodge of Connecticut’s Masonic Hospital and Care Facility -- has announced that they have remodeled a large number of their assisted living apartments to accommodate elderly divorced couples. Children of these couples (Freemasons are given preference, although MasoniCare told The Past Bastard that the facilities are open to all) can arrange to have their parents housed in the same unit, but living within separate apartments in order to make it easier for them to visit and care for their aging and estranged parents.
Workers remodeling the existing assisted care apartments to accommodate divorced and estranged parents. Many apartments are being split into two smaller units. |
“It has become increasingly difficult for people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s to care for their elderly parents,” said MasoniCare Director Jean-Luc Dicard. “Many of them are still working, and do not have time to help maintain a house in which an elderly parent is still living. When you consider how many older adults are divorced or separated, it’s a nightmare for the children to figure out how to care for not just one, but two parents.”
Director Dicard told The Past Bastard,“That is why we here at MasoniCare have come up with the idea of splitting some of our assisted living apartments into two smaller apartments, each with a bedroom, a small sitting area, a kitchen, and some very nice soundproof walls. Our clients can now put both of their parents in the same unit, and those parents won’t have to hear, see, or deal with each other.”
The Past Bastard asked about the rest of the facilities in the area.
"Oh, they are well known throughout the country," Director Dicard told us. "If the residents are feeling up to it, they can go on bus trips, play bingo, go to concerts, or go shopping in town. We even have an Eastern Star chapter if mom is interested, and of course, there's a lodge that meets in the daytime for dad. Most of the residents are quite happy here, and their children can easily see how well everyone is cared for."
“Now the children of these parents will no longer have to worry about household maintenance, since that would be included in our care facility program,” Dicard said. “And even better, they can visit both parents in one trip, should they so choose. They can have lunch dad, and then an early bird dinner with mom, and get home in time to watch their evening TV shows..”