Starting from the Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa, the AdinBerri strategy proposes a comprehensive strategy to address the issue of population aging and improve the quality of life of the elderly in the province of Gipuzkoa.
Within the comprehensive strategy, one of the lines proposed is the subsidy of strategic and innovative projects for the territory around aging.
Among the projects subsidized in 2018 is ETXEGOXO (Sweet Home in Basque).
What is ETXEGOXO?
ETXEGOXO is a project aimed at improving the quality of life of people with dementia in their homes.
ETXEGOXO aims to create a series of tools that allow preventive action on homes, and these act as facilitating elements to minimize the effect of dementias on people and their caregivers and prolong their autonomy at home.
In this way, it is intended to contribute to responding to needs and preferences around older people detected and contrasted in society; on the one hand, the prolongation of the stay at home and, on the other, preventive actions aimed at delaying more complicated, profound and expensive actions, proposing specific solutions for the group of people with dementia and their families, beyond the physical adaptations assumed and existing.
Who is part of ETXEGOXO?
ERROTU: People-centred Architecture Studio (co-ordinators)
UPV: Faculty of Architecture of the University of the Basque Country.
AFAGI: Association of Relatives and Friends of People with Alzheimer’s and other dementias of Gipuzkoa.
BEATRIZ MORAL: Doctor Anthropologist.
LIQUID DINAMIC: artistic and multimedia creation laboratory
How they have developed ETXEGOXO?
Using all the time COLLABORATIVE DIAGNOSIS:
- Family workshops for people with Alzheimer’s.
- In-depth home interviews with people with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers.
- Study and documentary analysis of international experiences.
What have they developed at ETXEGOXO?
- GUÍAGOXO: Guideline with tips to help people with cognitive impairment to adapt to their homes
- Summary BROCHURE
- TRAINING-PILOTING COURSE.
www.etxegoxo.eus
A. GUÍAGOXO:
Tips to help people with cognitive impairment to adapt to their homes
Characteristics:
-Simple format, agile, with images that illustrate the tips, useful.
Contents:
-Immediate environment.
Although this guide focuses on giving guidelines for the adaptation of homes in response to the general demand of living with dementia (or ageing) “at home”, it is necessary to remember that this adaptation and personalization of space cannot be limited solely to the interior design of homes. It must be extended to its close or community environment, to urban design. We cannot limit ourselves to devising perfectly “adapted” housing if we do not want to build golden cages that can generate such harmful consequences as social isolation.
All the space is interconnected: the house, the common areas of the buildings, the streets, the squares, the parks, the commerce, the leisure, the transport, should not be conceived as isolated links without communication between them.
-The house of the caretakers.
The role of caregivers is fundamental, since without them the dignity and quality of life of people with cognitive impairment would not be guaranteed. In fact, the caregivers take care of practically satisfying all their needs, and also meeting all the deficiencies or difficulties that the dwellings where they live may present.
We could even say that at certain times caregivers come to make up for all the deficiencies in the homes and environments of people with cognitive impairment.
If we want to advance in the principles of housing adaptation for people with this cognitive impairment, we have to take into account the unavoidable fact that at least one caregiver will live in this home at the same time, throwing behind them the great responsibility of avoiding all obstacles and to maintain the well-being of the person who cares
-General features.
1_ order
2_ colour and contrast
3_ lighting
4_ furniture
5_ installations and accessories
6_ room: acoustics and heating
7_ floor
8_ doors and windows
9_ decoration and works of art
-Parts of the house.
10_ entry
11_ kitchen
12_ dining room
13_ living room
14_ bedroom
15_ bathroom
B. Summary BROCHURE
Summary brochure of the Guide implemented to be distributed in associations, town halls and entities that work with people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias.
C. TRAINING-PILOTING COURSE
The piloting was carried out with 16 architecture students.
There were 3 common theoretical workshops that were combined with a practical work developed in working groups, with a total duration of one week.
At the end of the week, each group presented their work in class to the rest of their classmates.
At the end of the course, the level of satisfaction of the participants was evaluated, which was very high and the vast majority of them showed a very high interest in continuing to train in this matter.