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Chuck and Nancy Darling are thinking ahead - and moving on.
Chuck, 75, a retired director of development for the A-6 aircraft at Grumman, and Nancy, 71, a retired kindergarten teacher, have lived in their Belle Terre home for 40 years, and they're not particularly eager to leave. But if their hearts are slightly heavy, their minds are as practical as ever - and their destination is a type of community growing steadily in popularity.
They're not heading for a "golden age" development with its own golf course (although Chuck still plays a few rounds) or even a straight-up assisted living facility. The couple has placed a deposit on a residence in the Harbor Village at Mt. Sinai Retirement Community, a 186-unit "lifecare" community slated to open by 2008.
The community includes independent-living apartments - that is, residences for folks who, like the Darlings, don't require any medical attention - as well as assisted-living apartments and skilled nursing services, all under one roof. In short, "lifecare" is a care continuum allowing the elderly to move from independent apartment to assisted living to skilled nursing, all without changing their address.
"We love our house," Chuck said of the home he had built in 1966, after acquiring the land in 1963. " We raised...