Monday, November 24.1997
The University Daily Kansan
Section A · Page 5
ECHO houses provide alternative senior care
Family-elderly relations improve
Some ECHO houses, such as this one in Leon, Iowa, are attached to the family's house. Contributed photo
By Mike Perryman
Kansan staff writer
The University of Kansas has spent four years and $300,000 in grants studying a unique housing alternative's effects on the lives of older adults and their caregivers.
The University's Gerontology Center is determining whether living in ECHO (Elder Cottage Housing Opportunity) houses instead of nursing homes increases the quality of life for the residents. The center received two grants from the National Institute on Aging and will submit the study's results to the institute in February.
Mark Mathews, associate professor of human development and family life and associate director of the center, said the study would compare life in and out of ECHO houses.
"We want to compare the lives of those elderly people who currently live in ECHO houses with those elderly people who have expressed interest in living in the houses but have not yet been able to move into one," he said.
ECHO houses are smaller than traditional homes and are designed to attach to the side or fit into the garage of a normalized home. The residents of the traditional home are usually family members who want to take responsibility for elderly family members rather than spend money on a nursing home.
The base model ECHO house is
20 by 24 feet and costs $35,000.
The deluxe model is 20 by 28 feet
and costs $38,000.
Elderly who fall below the poverty level may pay for the houses in monthly installments ranging from $40 to $70 per month.
The center is studying 70 ECHO houses in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. So far, it has found that
ECHO houses lead to improvements in the level of contact between the family and the elderly individual.
Pamela Xaverius, Lawrence graduate student, said elderly people who move into the units developed better relationships with their caregivers. Individuals can live independently in an ECHO house and know that their caregivers are close if they need to talk or get assistance in an emergency, she said.
While nursing-home care focuses on the medical aspects of caring for an individual, ECHOhouse care focuses on the individual's social comfort, Xaverius said.
"Ultimately, ECHO houses won't cost the nation as much money, but at the same time, they won't really affect the lives of the family because the individual will essentially be living on his or her own." she said.
Steve Menke, president and founder of Life Designs, formerly known as Mobile Care, a Lawrence-based company that builds ECHO houses, has been working with the University on the project.
The company builds the ECHO houses so the individuals and the caregivers are as comforta-
"Ultimately, ECHO houses won't cost the nation as much money, but at the same time, they won't really affect the lives of the family."
Pamela Xaverius
post-doctoral graduate student
ble as possible. he said.
All of the houses have a bathroom, kitchen, living room, bedroom, telephone and electronic system so that the individual can notify the caregiver in case of an emergency, he said.
"People aren't going to be able to be taxed enough to pay for the costs of nursing homes for the elderly," he said. "There are more people with needs than tax resources to meet those needs."
Menke said that the concept of ECHO houses had been working for years in Australia.
"We need to figure out a way for this concept of family-based assistant living to work in this country," he said. "It is a convenient way for families to take a little responsibility by visiting and caring a little bit for the elderly."
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