Abbeyfield Houses Society of Canada: Newsletter

Abbeyfield International Update

ITALY
Marco de Gasperi reported that 4 houses are now open in Italy, the latest being San Fiorino. The house in Liscati is being built and should be ready at the end of 2008. Meanwhile in Montecastello the Society are faced with a financial challenge - to find ways of paying rent for the house, which was previously offered free of charge.

MEXICO
Our first house in Mexico is named after a flirtatious dance (!). Casa Carinosa is the brainchild of Brian and Aideen Howard, who are members of the congregation of St. Andrew’s Church in Riberas de Pilar of Chapala, Jalisco, near Ajijijc, (Guadalajara) in Mexico. This vibrant parish church has for some time been anxious to provide accommodation for lonely elderly people in the area.
The Howards travelled to Canada, where Abbeyfield volunteers showed them a number of houses and introduced them to residents. On their return to St Andrew’s and fired with enthusiasm by the concept, their opportunity to set up a house came from 94-year-old local resident Lisa Taylor, who provided 85% of the funding to purchase the house. Carinosa is a beautiful haceienda-style residence on the shores of Lake Chapala, and it hides behind an elegant decorative frontage of arches. The backdrop of mountains gathers the storm clouds that drift over the lake and form a “sombrero” atop the mountains in the rainy season.
This is rural Mexico, where half of the country’s 110 million population live, mostly in sometimes crude, often poverty-stricken conditions. The house residents come from the 20 thousand expat Lakeside community and they engage and exist happily with the local people. They describe themselves as totally interdependent with their “dearly beloved” locals in such matters as the provision of care, shopping, business, and transport.
The house has been operating now for a number of months, and boasts 4 residents all in their 90s (Lisa, Connie, Tom and Lou-Lou). Each has their own room and ensuite accommodation. The community is complete with a housekeeper (Miregg), house “boy” (Diego), gardner (Jesus) and house “dog” (Suzannah).
The back garden allows expansion to double the number of residents with four further “casitas” to be built. There is even a small swimming pool in the front garden!

News of Canadian Abbeyfield societies

Eco-friendly Durham
At the Abbeyfield International Conference, October 18-20, 2008, to be held in Toronto, one of the subjects will be Eco-friendly Houses.
Abbeyfield Durham have set an excellent example, as described by P.J. Wade in Realty Times:
The 12 residents share 6500 square feet of environmentally-friendly living accommodation that was specifically designed to be economical to operate. The house was built to R2000 standards or better with soundproofing between suites, and every manner of alarm and detector system.… The monthly natural gas cost is only C$350 to C$400 even with 16 bathrooms, a commercial dishwasher, Jacuzzi room and all the other domestic hot water use. The rooms are independently heated with hot water so that each resident may control their own environment. Common areas are heated with hot air, but not a hot air furnace. The building is so well insulated that the heat created by lighting provides the hot air.
Building to these standards will cost slightly more but the ongoing savings will be significant plus the glow of good citizenship.
Bob McMullan

Saint John the Divine Abbeyfield Society, Courtenay
Ten years ago, thanks to a generous gift of seed money from an anonymous donor, members of Saint John the Divine church came together to establish an Abbeyfield home in the Comox Valley. SJTD Abbeyfield House opened its doors to ten residents on November 15, 1997.
These are good times for SJTD -Abbeyfield House. Although economic challenges are always present, we are maintaining a balanced budget at the moment. We have a waitlist of about half a dozen people seeking residency. Through gifts and donations by residents, their families and agencies and societies in the Comox Valley, we have added some amenities and new furniture to our home. Three months ago, we switched our staffing model from a resident coordinator plus relief coordinator to one with a weekday coordinator plus a weekend coordinator plus a resident person who has no daytime commitments but is present at nighttime to deal with any contingencies that might arise. This arrangement does not put undue loads on any one person, and seems to be working to the benefit of all. Although our month’s rent for residents is in the high range compared to other Abbeyfield houses (because we are still paying off a large mortgage), it is significantly lower than any other facility offering congregational living in our area.
The health of an Abbeyfield home is measured not merely by its balance sheet, but by the sense of shared community within the home, and by the freedom of residents to enjoy full lives within the larger community surrounding them. We welcome the experiences other Abbeyfield societies offer on these matters as we focus on these goals, and strive to enrich them.
Chris Aikman

In a conversation, keep in mind that you’re more interested in what you have to say than anyone else is.
-Andrew Roone

Efficiency is concerned with doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things.
-Peter Drucker

A man was telling his neighbour, “I just bought a new hearing aid. It cost me four thousand dollars, but it’s state of the art. It’s perfect.” “Really,” answered the neighbour, “what kind is it?”
“Twelve thirty.”
-Anonymous

An elderly gentleman had serious hearing problems for a number of years. He wet to the doctor and the doctor was able to have him fitted for a set of hearing aids that allowed the gentleman to hear 100%. The elderly gentleman went back in a month to the doctor and the doctor said, “Your hearing is perfect. Your family must be really pleased that you a can hear again.” The gentleman replied, “Oh, I haven’t told my family yet. I just sit around and listen to the conversations. I’ve changed my will three times.”
- Anonymous

The shortest distance between two points is under construction.
-Anonymous