Sunday 20 November 2011

urban commune

Littlewoods building - is perfect for the "aging together" commune in Liverpool

Lately I have been thinking a rather lot about the nature of human community.

It's a theme I return to again and again; humans needing to be in community with one another, especially older people.

In Britain in 2011, few shed any tears over the cruel way the elderly are treated in this country. A new and shocking report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission shows that thousands of old people are being appallingly abused in their own homes by the very individuals employed to care for them.

The report found that good carers are hopelessly over-stretched because of council cutbacks, while bad carers could not care less about their charges and are neglecting, starving, robbing and humiliating those who depend on them.

Invalids are roughly pushed on and off wheelchairs and insulted. Disabled pensioners have food put before them that they can’t reach. On and on it goes, case by harrowing case, a litany of abuse that amounts to a ‘systemic failure’ of care in the home.

The impact of this failure on vulnerable individuals hardly bears thinking about: they suffer depression, stress, tears, frustration; they feel they have been stripped of self-worth and dignity; some are so miserable they want to die.

What makes it so much worse is that this report is just the latest in a shameful catalogue of cruelty.

Over the past year, secretly recorded TV films have revealed similar attitudes in care homes, while the Care Quality Commission reported last month that one in five hospitals was breaking the law over its neglectful treatment of the elderly.

"The commission highlighted the case of a 77-year-old woman left to lie in her own urine for several hours after undergoing major surgery. She died weeks later, her body so full of infection that the funeral directors had to wear biohazard suits.

How do these people who are employed to look after the old in our society sleep at night? Do they think they will never grow old themselves?

The sorry truth is that it is not just the professionals who have given up on the elderly. The maltreatment of pensioners by carers goes on only because there is widespread indifference to the fate of the old in society at large.

Old people in our country today are seen not as individuals, but as a burden — a growing mass of drooling, incontinent, helpless and demanding parasites" - wrote Yasmin Alibhai-brown in Daily Mail article Dogs in kennels are treated better than many of Britain’s elderly 25th November 2011

You may think it's exaggerating, but there is no doubting the fact that the elderly are wholly cast as an economic drag on the young and the nation.Medical advances and population trends mean there are more and more old people having to be supported by younger generations.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2065905/Dogs-kennels-treated-better-Britain-s-elderly.html

Thieving carer took £135,000 from widow, 83, blew it on holidays and threatened to burn down her house

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3 March 2012
how it is very familiar to me as a former soviet union citizen from my born...
how horrible it is...it is exactly what called "banditism and oligarch" and this exactly how the russian oligarch became so rich in very short time.
i am scary
what happened with my beloved from my childhood England...

Granny from the land registry helped lawyer and banker steal empty homes from the elderly

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"Aging Together commune"

A group of people sharing the similar interests and age could go in together for the purchase or rent of a property and that even after renovations it might still be cheaper than renting or buying lots of individual dwellings, and that when somebody wanted to move out they could sell their 'portion' to a new member.

The idea, the old people commune, really captured my imagination. I saw a group of older people taking a building and altering it to contain a collection of one or two bedroom units that share common areas - like kitchen, dinning rooms, living areas…garden…a library, a multi-work station, office and IT area, art studio… party rooms..theatre...commune charity shop, exhibition aria...etc.

Group members would contribute -

*effort (scheduled cooking, cleaning of common areas…etc)

*money - (both initially to "buy in" and monthly to cover costs of cable, internet, electricity, water..etc).

Meals would be prepared for whoever is around for that meal and wants to eat. Those cooking would make food for people who noted on a sign-up sheet that they would be in for the meal.

There are things that would need to be ensured. The group would need a pretty clearly defined social contract; rooms would need to provide sufficient "private" space and amenities.

Group members would elect a "bill payer" semi-annually who would collect the monthly bill portion and pay the communal bills. People would still have person bank accounts, retirement plans, person wealth and private space.

What is the most important things for the people of any age:

social relationships (contact with family and friends),

cultural and leisure activities (for example going to cinema or theatre),

civic activities (for example membership of a local interest group, voluntary work, voting),

basic services (for example health services, shops),

neighbourhood (for example safety and friendliness of local people),

financial products (for example bank account, pension),

material goods (for example consumer durables, central heating)

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Research around the world
The best Retirement Community so far

How looks like a small apartment for elderly people inside:
Holland

Retirement Living Centerville, MA

Welcome to Harbor Point at Centerville Senior Living in Centerville, MA

Harbor Point at Centerville is the first residential assisted living community on Cape Cod exclusively dedicated to serving the needs of individuals with memory loss. Our goal, in everything we do, is to create an environment that feels safe and familiar, empowering and fulfilling. Our residents are able to enjoy all the joys of senior living in Centerville, MA while their loved ones can be assured they are receiving the level of care that best meets their needs.
http://www.harborpointatcenterville.com/

Senior Apartments Centerville, MA

Harbor Point at Centerville offers seniors spacious, well-appointed apartments and the option of an array of supportive services in a comfortable, secure environment. We have a variety of floor plans ranging in size and layout, with lovely community rooms and outdoor spaces for all to enjoy. All of our apartments have a thoughtful choice of fixtures and finishes which make Harbor Point at Centerville a great place to call home.

Floor Plans
Studio Apartment A, One Bathroom	View Floorplan
Studio Apartment B, One Bathroom	View Floorplan

Studio Apartment A, One Bathroom

View Floorplan

Studio Apartment B, One Bathroom

View Floorplan

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Wonderland Hill Development Company, USA

research about eco communes around the world

Project “Ecovillages for sustainable rural development”

Suderbyn is leading a project named “Ecovillages for sustainable rural development”, that is related to the EU’s Baltic Sea Strategy and its Action Plan for environmentally sustainable ways of living.
The project aims at helping our society to get closer to nature again and to develop new ways of living together on the land in a genuinely more sustainable way. This is especially important given the climate crisis and resource shortages that we face. The eco-village concept is an innovation offering solutions to many resource, climate and social life problems societies of the Baltic Sea Region (BSR) face. Eco-villages are an alternative to the individualistic, consumerist and commodified systems that many cities represent.

http://ekobogotland.se/292.html

Ecological design

Eco-villages are built for an organic design, which is a detailed plan in which different environmental solutions and aspects are worked for. The ecological design includes such sustainable solutions to the building (to build with locally produced environmentally friendly products), energy (the use of renewable energy sources such as solar, wind and hydro) environmentally friendly manufacturing (the example uses the people instead of machines) permaculture (landscaping with plants in focus, where one example. dams and dikes in improving the conditions for the plants). The major objective of the eco-village are to become self-sufficient, which means ekobyn produce their own food. By the ecological design can be eco-villages are closer to this goal, especially through permaculture.

Suderbyn principles

Ekobyars principles can be implemented in both urban and rural areas and in developing and developed countries. Ecovillages advocating a sustainable lifestyle, this is defined very differently, Suderbyn recommend both large and small everyday changes. As to bike instead of car, cutting back on meat eating and that the waste sorting, etc. Suderbyn recommend mostly minor changes that can be kept alive than major changes that are difficult to implement. In the end it's up to everyone to help improve the environment and we choose for ourselves how much we want to contribute.

http://www.suderbyn.se/295.html

Genetic 'Rosetta Stone' unveiled in Nature "Scientists have developed a new community resource that may act as a Rosetta Stone for revealing the genetic basis of traits and disease"

“One of the grand challenges of biology is to understand how genetic variants and environmental factors interact to produce variation in complex phenotypes such as height, behaviors, and disease susceptibility within populations. This effort has been stymied by the lack of knowledge of all genetic variants in a population of a genetically tractable model organism. The DGRP sequences provide such a resource,” Mackay noted.”

Saturday 19 November 2011

RESEARCH

http://www.fas.se/upload/dokument/publiaktioner/pdf/Pop%20Aging.pdf

It is generally assumed that elderly people want to live alone, at least as long as they are physically able.
This is not always the case.
Not only has the rapid growth of communes of elderly people in the USA, Sweden, Netherlands and other european countries attracted international attention, it has also become a social policy issue.
The government and institutional care providers tend to see them as informal homes for the aged, whereas the elderly who are involved in this see the communes as positive alternatives to traditional ideas on aging.
In a theoretical interpretation it is shown that both the communes and the different reactions to them represent in a nutshell important developments concerning aging and the position of the aged in Western society, as well as major trends in the modernization process.
I think about the advantages of older people living in small, close communities.
I dream about the aging people commune, growing old together commune designed to restore individuals to a home in the community by combining small homes, flats with the full range of personal care and clinical services expected in high-quality nursing homes.
The older people would band together cooperatively to share resources, provide community, engage in fellowship, help each other to coordinate services and hire local help for daily needs.
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Growing Old Together, in New Kind of Commune

Sunday 23 October 2011

my dream

Community should be safe and beautiful! People from community will have own quiet rooms and huge garden, greenhouses for growing vegetables, rabbits and sheep, charity shop, library, beauty-hairdresser salon, kitchen for everybody who want to do cooking, theater, pub and tearooms…and much more.

I think there is a real opportunity to enjoy for ways of living into old age that reduce loneliness, strengthen links with the community, and are based on mutual relationships and reciprocal support. It should be developing our understanding of how to promote happy and inclusive communal living can make a lot of difference to the lives of people in retirement community. Supporting of each other, paid and unpaid carers and family members is crucial to ensure a better life for older people, as well as for the supporters themselves.

old people and liveRgarden

Older age people is not about only 'older-aging-elderly' – it is about all of us. We are all heading in that direction in life and some of us will require a lot of support in the future.
We know that this life stage can bring real loss, difficulty and frustration…but portraying older people as dependent, depressed and a ‘burden’ is wrong and our task to thinking together.

Whatever our age and support needs, we all wish to be treated as citizens. This implies being able to live positive, meaningful and safe lives, based on strong, personal and respectful relationships, and making an active contribution to society.

Old Ladies of Inge Löök

http://www.ingelook.com/ingeen.html

liveRgarden dream

Who are they– older (aging) people?
Why it is important to community to be not far from city Centre Liverpool?
Aging-older-elderly people - it is people from golden '60s - they were creative, hardworking and talented young people of legendary city!
It can be the director of the Academy of Art and members of the theater next to the academy, it's – workers of Walker Galleries and other museums in Liverpool, it is musicians, artists, teachers and theater actors from Liverpool. All this people born and live in Liverpool whole life and probably cannot imagine their life without city.

Back to my childhood, when a child goes to his first lesson in school, the end year students take a child each by the hand, and take them to their first lesson, sit them to their first desks, and introduce them to the new school, so that children wouldn't feel lonely and anxious, but feel safe and inspired by the older generation of students.

In the same way, I wish to use my skills and life experience to help younger and older people in my community by bringing them together, getting them involved, giving them sense of security and inspiration.

liveRgarden

Why is Liverpool and Wavetree?

Wavetree is located on part of a green field site that was designated for extensive housing development. It has already brilliant roads infrastructure around and it is close to Royal Hospital and city centre Liverpool. It should be build units of one and two bedroom accommodation (predominantly apartments) and yurts(!) for those who prefer nomadic lifestyle - all designed to high standards for older people and people with special needs. It will be extensive communal facilities including a restaurants, healthy living suite, arts and crafts rooms, convenience store, bar, library, IT room, hair salon, charity shop, theatre and more... and offers a range of care and support services. Probably it can be a mixed tenure development: properties are available for full purchase, shared ownership, for rent or free.

Livergarden community will be intended to be an independent living setting, but can accommodate significant numbers of people with high levels of need for care and support, who would otherwise be living in residential care. It is owned and managed by charity trust(?) city council(?), patrons and sponsors (?) , which provides all the services.

have you got a dream...

Have you got a silver dream?

I did write to “silver dream” but…I don’t think they interested about my dream. I am not charity organization but just...dreamer

In splendid isolation at the Lake District Yurt camp. Photo: Richard Hammond

my dream

My dream is to create and organise community for older people in Liverpool near derelict Littlewoods building in Wavertree. The building is unique and amazing! It is old Art Deco building with fascinating history and huge place for garden around.
Community should be safe and beautiful! People from community will have own quiet rooms and huge garden, greenhouses for growing vegetables, rabbits and sheep, charity shop, library, beauty-hairdresser salon, kitchen for everybody who want to do cooking, theater, pub and tearooms…and much more.
I think there is a real opportunity to enjoy for ways of living into old age that reduce loneliness, strengthen links with the community, and are based on mutual relationships and reciprocal support. It should be developing our understanding of how to promote happy, safe and inclusive communal living can make a lot of difference to the lives of people in retirement community.

While the majority of older people in our society will never suffer the experience of being a victim of serious crime (I hope so), a fear of crime in itself can cause anxiety. It is important that we feel safe and secure both in and out of our homes. Do you feel safe and secure?

I am not…

Supporting of each other, paid and unpaid carers and family members is crucial to ensure a better life for older people, as well as for the supporters themselves.

Please! Government protect elderly people!

Jobless thug tortures pensioner to death at her home to steal her bank pin to pay for his wedding

creating

I realized recently that I'm feeling so much better if I can actually do something concrete... I feel like I absolutely must create something, anything. It gives a huge amount of satisfaction. A day without nothing special I've made by myself is a ruined day. The best things are drawing, knitting, photographing the world around me, dreaming about gardening…(I don’t have my own garden…), cooking, writing my dreams and thinking and even cooking or cleaning.