I came to France to visit Village Landais Alzheimer’s: https://villagealzheimer.landes.fr/

As you may know, four years ago I had the opportunity to visit De Hogewey and was deeply inspired by my experience there. As someone who was 18 years old and trying to figure out a better way for other seniors who are in long-term care but restricted to stay inside. These models give the person the liberty to go outside and humanize care. Below you will find a quick overview of Village Landais in Dax, France. I will visit them on February 27th. My deepest thanks to them and Dr Gaelle Marie-Bailleul for hosting my visit in France!

Village Landais Reflection (Click Link to Access Reflection)

Español resume: 

Dax, France General Reflection 

I originally decided to come to France after hearing the news story in The New Yorker, “A French Village’s Radical Vision of a Good Life with Alzheimer’s” I visited De Hogeweyk in the summer of 2019, where I was introduced to these ideas of Dementia Village. It left a deep impression on me as it gave me actionable items I could use/alter in my home setting with my grandmother. Therefore, I wanted to visit others. 

Thanks to the generosity and time of one doctor at The Village Landais, they made my visit possible. I had the unique opportunity to come to this part of France that I did not plan to visit. When I arrived, I first arrived in Paris for a few days and then took the train as you can only get to Dax by train or car. While I was in Paris, I was overwhelmed by the number of people and the noise that they had. It was a quick visit to Paris, where I could not see any long-term care facilities, but I asked some people living there about nursing homes and their ideas. Many said they would not be in one because they would have to follow the rules. Again, this idea of loss of liberty continues to surface. 

Another thing these people brought up was the scandals of nursing homes that occurred last year in France. You can learn more about it via this Link. This left many people knowing about avoiding nursing homes and putting a negative idea about them. 

Anyways, after those interactions, I was intrigued as the few people I spoke to about Dax said, “it’s a place for old people.” I  took the train to Dax as you can only arrive by train here. The woman took care of her older parents. Her father came every afternoon so they could eat lunch together. It was an incredible experience because I could not speak French, yet he smiled and shook my hand. 

After this encounter, I decided to explore Dax. My intention of coming a week before the visit was to understand what it means to be an older person living in this part of France and access areas of improvements that the municipality could make. 

Surprisingly, I often saw older people congregating in coffee shops or bars. This experience reminded me of when I was in Gernika, Spain, where so many older adults spend time socializing with one another. 

As I always do in every new country I visit, I go on walks. I walked around and then came to an interesting encounter. I saw several groups of older adults playing with silver balls. In my mind, I am like, what the heck is this, but I soon realized this popular sport is actually fun. 

I was grateful for the opportunity to encounter this as this was a space for them to socialize and come into community with one another. All of these older adults were healthy, and some were riding bikes. I was shocked to see this. 

This experience reminded me of creating more community spaces for people to gather. For example, even if it rains, how can we ensure an indoor space for these people to meet? 

They are living longer and healthier because they continue to socialize. It was a great encounter I had. 

They reminded me of what Argentina was able to successfully do with the parks/plazas they have, where older adults can come in and enjoy some activity that is going on if they desire to partake in it. This also reminded me of Costa Rica day centers, where older persons mentioned the importance of this space. 

On another day, they were playing this game, I came before it even started and was amazed to see three older persons riding their bikes at full speed and was thrilled to see them healthy. In a way, our society makes it seem that being old, you cannot do x,y, and z, but these people are clearly defying that stereotype. 

I also had the opportunity to witness grandparents take their grandchildren out to eat and sightsee. It was an incredible sight as, again, we have to think about creating our cities to be more inclusive and space for everyone. 

I leave France with the knowledge I gained from my previous countries, further affirming the importance of creating such a space for older people. Again, they defied my ideas of institutionalization like the centenarians of Costa Rica. 

Merci, until the next time, France! 

Video Link Reflection on Ash Wednesday: Pending Upload