Le Village Landais : Innovative home for people with dementia

Inspired by the De Hogeweyk – Dementia Village in the Netherlands, the ‘Village Landais’, in France is an innovative home for people with dementia. Opened on 11 June 2020, the French village is home to 120 residents affected by Alzheimer’s or related diseases and supported by 120 staff and 120 volunteers. 10 places are reserved […]

A card game to raise awareness on the human rights of older people

Looking at the impact of COVID-19 policies on inequalities, the project RESISTIRÉ has developed a card-based game aiming to help protect the rights of older people. The aim of the EU-funded research project is to find sustainable solutions to these inequalities and to strengthen societal resilience to outbreaks. Running for 30 months until September 2023, […]

A bistro livens up a retirement home in France

In Abbeville, France, a bistro has been set up right in the middle of a residential care home. The idea may come as a surprise, but the benefits are already quite visible: the residents – and their families – are delighted. The local bistro is an emblematic place in France for sharing and socialising. It […]

Saphir, a retirement home where everyone feels at home

Saphir is a retirement home in Brussels, Belgium, where residents can benefit from culturally sensitive care. The care staff is of mixed origins and works with the residents and their families to integrate a cultural and religious dimension into the way care is provided. Saphir is the first retirement home in Belgium to be explicitly […]

Humanitude: a French label to re-humanise care

Invented by two former physical education and sports teachers, the ‘humanitude’ concept suggests a different approach to care for vulnerable groups that aims to restore their dignity and improve relations between patients and carers. A label has been created to recognize collective living spaces that respect this approach, places where one can feel at home, […]

‘Jamais seuls’ supports the adoption of a pet in old age

Jamais seuls is a non-profit organisation attached to the Animal Behaviour Centre in Belgium (Jodoigne), created and managed by Julie Willems, an ethologist and animal behaviourist, and her team. The aim of the association is to remove older dogs and cats from shelters and offer them for adoption to isolated older people, in order to […]

A council to give a voice to residents in French retirement homes

In France, retirement homes have a “council for social life” (‘Conseil de Vie Sociale’) that is aimed encourage the participation of residents and their families. It is a place for exchange and expression on all matters concerning the organisation and daily life in residential care facilities, the quality of services, the improvement of the living […]

Touch therapy to ease loneliness and improve well being in care homes

As loneliness and lack of physical contact have been on the rise in nursing home since the beginning of the pandemic, a Belgian “touch therapist” struggles daily to try to improve older residents’ well being. Sebastien Vandenberghe has been using his hands for 20 years as a tool for sharing, soothing and healing in several […]

‘Forget dementia, remember the person’ – Flemish/Belgian campaign

In Belgium, the Flemish Minister for Welfare, Public Health and Family is launching an awareness campaign to challenge the way we look at older people living with dementia. The campaign website provides material and pictures aimed change the prevailing negative image associated with dementia into an image in which the human being is central. A […]

Tubbemoddelen: Innovative participative management model in Swedish nursing homes

Allowing staff and residents to manage the nursing home together and giving older persons the feeling that it is their own home, this is the basic idea of the Tubbemoddelen, an innovative bottom-up management model originally set up in the nursing homes of the municipality of Tjörn, Sweden. Inspired by the vision of the Danish […]

‘Maison Dahlia’ showcases possible home accommodations in old age

The Dahlia house in the Havre, France, is an educational exhibition house that has been adapted to foster independent living and well-being in old age. When ageing, we become less flexible, the balance is less safe and the risk of falling increases. This demonstration site, set up by the Central Social Activities Fund (CCAS), allows […]

A farm created for and with nursing home residents in Belgium

Under the name ‘Jardin des Curèyes’, a farm yard has been set up in the garden of a nursery home in Theux, Belgium. While being the beneficiaries of the initiative, older residents were also the designers and actors of the project, which they had been following right from the beginning. Apart from the 15 residents […]

Free online training modules for informal carers launched in France

Ahead of the national informal carers’ day on 6 October 2017, the French Carers’ association (‘Association Française des Aidants’) has launched a free online interactive training tool designed to support family carers in their daily life. The training is made up of six modules of about 20 minutes addressing various aspects of informal care, such […]

Care farms provide nursing home care in the Netherlands

Care farms are extensively used in the Netherlands as an alternative to day care centres for people in need of care, including people with dementia. They aim to offer new care concept directed towards small-scale and homelike environments. The care is often organized in smaller units, usually with 6–8 residents, in which personal care and […]

Dementia trained hairdressers in UK care homes

The Lily Pins is a UK hairdressing company which provides dementia-trained hairdressers in care homes. Currently 12 hairdressers are serving 18 care homes in Kent, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. It also employs beauticians and chiropodists. As a recent study found, hairdressing and other appearance-related services have an important role to play in the broader therapeutic […]

French Red Cross provide Alzheimer patients with bracelets for greater autonomy

The French Red Cross has just partnered with Bluelinea, an operator for connected lifestyle devices supporting dependent older persons in their homes, to provide persons with Alzheimer disease with a GPS bracelet which will enable them to move around more safely. The objective of this cooperation is to improve the autonomy and well-being of people […]

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