BOSTON -- It's called virtual retirement, and it's allowing some seniors in Boston to live more independently.

RETIREMENT Beacon Hill Village American Association Of Retired Persons

Across the country, senior communities are trying to help seniors stay at home by providing essential services as they age.

Woody Ives is a President of Beacon Hill Village, a group that helps the elderly stay where at home. The group is described as a "virtual retirement community," delivering a range of services to their members as they age from home repair to health care.

"We feel we've provided for the health care and for the maintenance and other requirements that are typically provided by a first-rate life care unit, which for the most part are out in the suburbs, away from the action," Beacon Hill Village President Woody Ives said. "We want to be active and fully participating as citizens in the community."

Susan McWhinney-Morse has lived on Beacon Hill for 30 years and plans to stay another 30. She said she wants to remain at a safe distance from the assisted-living environment she finds depressing. She said the golden years should not be spent walking down long corridors but taking in the symphony, new restaurants and museums.

"I think I would go bananas if I could not go to a different restaurant frequently, if I could not walk out and see young people and baby buggies and older people and just the whole street life that a city has to offer," she said.

McWhinney-Morse is already taking advantage of the home repair service Beacon Hill Village arranges. It might be just a leaky ceiling that needs fixed now, but one day, she might need grab bars installed or stair elevators.

Beacon Hill village not only serves longtime residents on the hill, but also those who have moved from the suburbs to the city, which many seniors now opt to do. For an annual fee of $750 to $1,000 dollars, the range of discounted services includes wellness programs through Massachusetts General Hospital's senior care practice, social and cultural activities, home health services, transportation, and exercise classes.

The need for virtual retirement communities is evident by how many are cropping up all over the country. But time will tell whether these groups will be able to meet the challenges of the very old. The sprightly McWhinney-Morse said she's willing to wait at home and see.

"I want to live to be 100 in an active, sort of good way," she said. "Not stiff and bent over or tired out."

"We want to focus on wellness in the fullest sense, whether that be physical exercise, educational, or cultural engagement, and not be farmed off somewhere," Ives said.

The Harvard Business School is working with Beacon Hill Village because they believe it could be an important national model.