Retirees are always attracted to Nevada because of the various amenities that it offers to them. These amenities include parks such as the Big Bend Park for recreational purposes, convenient swimming pools that serve children, houses to rent, facilities for picnics, and mild waters. Nevada’s ample sunshine also attracts most retirees together with its sky which shows different colors that include blue, pink-red, and purple. Its temperatures are also favorable to retirees with low humidity. Most important to the retirees is state income tax that is not charged hence reducing their cost of the visit. Other amenities include the Bonnie spring ranch, Lake Havasu Arizona, and the Hoover Dam.
Many retirees who go to Las Vegas live in retirement communities. This is because of its high-quality social amenities. The places in which they live are:
- Los Prados: – it is a retirement community which is averagely priced. It has an area suitable for the family and also an area that is restricted to a certain age limit. It also has a pool, a court for playing tennis and a golf course.
- Solera:-also a retirement community that is situated on top of a mountain facing Las Vegas valley.
- Siena:-a retirement community with falls trails for hiking and biking, exercise centers, and theatres.
- Promenade. – A retirement community situated on the west of Las Vegas next to the meadow falls.
- Sun City Anthem:-is a retirement community that is still under construction
- Sun City Aliante:-which is part of the Aliante master-planned community.
Others include Sun City Summerlin and sun mountain
A retirement community is a broad term that refers to different types of housing for retirees or people who have matured (senior) in age. It is specifically designed for those people who are no longer at work or for people who have attained a certain age requirement. A retirement community includes common places and special facilities for socialization such as clubs, sports grounds, swimming pools, art and crafts for creative skills. All these facilities are designed in line with the demands of the retirees.
There are benefits of living in a retiree community and these include the following:
It is common knowledge that the majority of retirees are people who are advanced in age hence they are not very active as they used to be before. Their immune system also weakens with time and therefore they become prone to certain old-age diseases and this, therefore, causes the need for vaccination. When retirees are in a community, the cost of vaccination is cut down and the efficacy level is also high because they are converged in a single geographical area unlike when they are scattered all over in their different communities hence government spending on vaccination is reduced.
In the community, retirees are given social support. They are taken care of by professionals who counsel them taking into consideration their unique needs. Many times most people don’t plan for retirement hence they are always caught unawares which leads to stress hence the need for somebody to help them manage the stress.
Work gives people a sense of identity. During our working period, we make relationships at the workplace and our jobs become part of us so much that in the process of retirement, we lose that sense of identity and feel alienated by society. Therefore, having a retirement community where they live proves to them that society still has them in mind and is concerned hence restoring their lost identity.
Even though retirees are out of the working sector, they remain relevant in our societies. As the saying goes, old is gold. They can still contribute rationally to issues relating to the growth and development of the economy. This is only possible when they have the bargaining power as a group in the community. Again living together as a community of people who have retired and of relatively the same age, they share so many things in common that they feel part of each other. They also share new ideas because interacting with new people is learning new ideas. Retirement communities are always quiet with no shouting music; people are friendly and willing to help each other.
A multi-generational community is a community comprising of people of great diversities in terms of age, race, socioeconomic status, and beliefs. Living in a multi-generational community has the benefit of social networks and long-term acquaintances.i.e. you can maintain your circle of friends and those that you’ve known. It also has the benefit of sustainability. The community is in a position to sustain itself by meeting the demands of all its population. In the long days, people lived together where the young learned from the old and the kinship bond was very strong. People’s culture was passed from one generation to another and this is the essence of a multi-generational community. Living in a multigenerational community helps people to identify themselves as a whole by learning both from homogenous and heterogeneous groups (Don Martin, Betty Martin. 199). The main disadvantage of a multigenerational community is stress rising from within the family.
The main disadvantage of joining a retirement community is that it detaches you from your family and normal way of life. Perhaps the biggest advantage of a multigenerational community over a retirement community is psychological. In a multigenerational community, people live together without labeling one another. Every member of this community is equal in the eyes of the community – senior citizens or the youth are not treated differently due to age factors. Retirees, therefore, feel like normal members of the community regardless of their advancing years. This boosts the way they feel about themselves as opposed to living in a retirement community where they are constantly reminded by being there that they are old people who have nothing much to offer to the world. This feeling of “I am just waiting for my time” has been cited as a major cause of stress and depression among elderly citizens. It has also been said to have a psychological effect that could shorten life. Being in retirement communities may make one feel that they are persons of special needs even if they are feeling fine with themselves. This can lead to boredom and psychological stress (Willging, P. R. 12-15). The retiree has to cope up with a new way of life which is not routine because there are always rules to regulate ways in the community. Again there is no diversity in the communities because it is usually composed of people of the same age group and same socioeconomic status.
Therefore the differences between the retirement community and regular community are that: Retirement community resembles people living in an institution with regulations and certain ways of life while the regular community is a free community with no such regulations. Also in regular communities, there is family closeness with strong lineage bonds which does not exist in retirement communities. There is also community sustainability in regular communities while retirement communities lack continuity flow.
The benefit of diversity is experienced in a regular community, unlike retirement community which comprises of people of the same identities in terms of age, race, and status. Most of the retirement communities are in the suburbs that are quiet with no shouting noises, unlike regular communities that are busy all over.
In conclusion, I want to summarize that the benefits of living in the regular community are greater and weighty than the benefits of living in retirement communities. The psychological effects of being in a retirement community coupled with having to adjust to a new lifestyle make these communities unattractive to many. It is better therefore to live in a regular community than to live in a retirement community.
Work Cited
- Caronell, J., & Polivka, L. (2003). The aging network and the future of long-term care. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 41(3/4), 313-321.
- Don Martin, Betty Martin. Nevada in Your Future. Published by DiscoverGuides, pg. (195-256). 2000
- Willging, P. R. ‘Aging in place’ can be a marketing trap. Nursing Homes Long-Term Care Management, 52(10), 12-15. (2003).