Luke Grieve, National Operations Manager - Aged and Community Care for Telstra Health, questions whether retirement villages will be relevant in the future.

He points to 2 factors. The first is technology which will enable people to stay in their own home longer, a strategy supported by government funding of home care. Emergency call buttons, movement sensors and eHealth he argues will substitute for the sense of personal security provided by a retirement village.

The second factor Greive points to is the emergence of ‘naturally occurring retirement communities’ (NORCs). This is an American concept: ‘virtual retirement villages’ where people living in their own home build ‘local communities’ with the aid of technology. He claims that worldwide there are 50 NORCs and another 3,000 in development. i.e. People connecting online with like-minded people – like in a retirement village.

He sees retirement villages as being a ‘labour based concierge system’. The village manager physically introduces a new resident into the physical community of the village and identifies the local support services.

He points out Telstra Health offers an eConcierge service which includes a compendium of services including property maintenance requests, meals, a communications channel etc., all with a single billing platform.

We have to ask the question, can digital communication bridge the gap of isolation, loneliness and depression, especially as people become more frail?