单选题 Many older Americans spend their final years in a nursing home or assisted living center. These places provide services that help older adults with activities they can no longer do on their own. However, most people say they would like to remain in their own homes. Now, there are nonprofit groups that help them do that.
Philip Smith is ninety-one years old and lives with his wife in an old house in Seattle, Washington. And he wants to keep it that way. He always says: "As far as I"m concerned, I would not like to leave this place. Living in a group situation is something I couldn"t tolerate. I"d kill myself before I had to do that."
Mr. Smith says now he and his wife can take good care of themselves in their two-level house. But he and his wife know they will soon need help with simple housework. Work like changing a light bulb that hangs at the top of the stairs. In the past, an older American would ask one of their children or a neighborhood teenager to change the light bulb. But here, those young helpers have grown up and gone. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have three children, but they all live in other states. So they are considering joining a "virtual village." This is a local group of volunteers and service providers that help older adults. They might help these adults with anything from transportation to small home repairs and dog walking.
The virtual village idea was first developed about ten years ago in Boston, Massachusetts. The idea has spread to an unofficial network of villages around the country. One hundred fifty are currently in development.