Village Volunteers /Part 2

They will be essential to the smooth running of the Alzheimer's Village, which is betting on a whole new sort of care for people with the disease. To accompany the 120 future residents and help them to continue as possible in the Dax establishment their life before the disease, 120 volunteers - why not you? - are currently recruited and trained.

During the training, Patrice Fernandez from the League of Education comes to meet participants to discuss the framework of volunteering and what this commitment involves. "Meaningfulness, usefulness and pleasure are the key words for the success of a volunteering action," he says. Volunteering is first a moral commitment that is also regulated by law. Participants leave with clearer ideas about how they can be acting in the heart of the Village. "Above all, it is the pleasure that prevails, both for the residents and for the volunteers who will accompany them!" says Florence Laudouar, coordinator of animation and volunteers of the Alzheimer's Village.

At 82, Josette Cormier has already planned to come and sing with the residents and her friends from the Entre deux chants choir: "Les amants de Saint-Jean, la Dacquoise... old or modern songs because singing is living! And I'm sure that people in the Village will also have songs to teach us! "

Alexandre de la Biche, bought his house in Dax a few years ago from a man who suffered from Alzheimer's disease. From the floor, he almost sees the Bastide construction works. So as soon as everything is ready, the young photographer plans to go there once a week to develop artistic projects with the residents.

"We need all of you to help us improve the perception and the image of this disease that touches the intimate.
This Village is a huge hope. "

At the visiting dogs Association, several members have already done the training, like Martine, Paule, Marinette, or Audrey Dejean who saw her grandmother with the disease: "I see the happiness and the communication that can bring the animals without doing any therapy. Just by them being in the room, people speak more easily and open themselves, that's why we are happy to intervene." Other volunteers participate in the writing of the Alzheimer's Village Gazette with the young people of the Mugron Agricultural High School.

Sporting and cultural associations of Dax also take a close interest in the Village, like the JAD. The president of the sports club, Yannick Garcia, suggested that all local associations could go on site to offer an animation at one time or another of the year. "Without entering into the pathology of patients, with the number of associations that exist on the territory, we must be able, by a well-established calendar, to propose playful and recreational activities for at least 200 days in the year, without any cost," said the Santé Services Dax executive, who would see many fencing demonstrations, drumming-band rehearsals and dance events.

In front of patients’ families, volunteers and health professionals gathered at the Atrium of Dax in early March 2019 for conferences-debates with the Castillon Research Association, Marie Sarazin, professor of neurology at the University Paris-Descartes explained: "All the activities in which the patient will be involved and active are extremely important because they are gratifying. We need all of you to help us improve the perception and the image of this disease that touches the intimate. This Village is a huge hope."

Want to commit?

For any questions, please contact Florence Laudouar, Animation and Volunteer Coordinator of the Alzheimer's Village: 00 33 +(0)5 58 51 83 59 or florence.laudouar@mlph.fr

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