Homes designed for housing elderly people and their caretakers are not a new matter, and in the past, they were referred to as "old age homes". Today, however, many of them have been transformed from one extreme to the next, and various models of residential housing have been created for the elderly - from traditional nursing homes to assisted living facilities to nursing communities and retirement villages.
The following five places, intended for the elderly, are among the most unique in the world and you should learn more about them - some because of the interesting story behind them and some because of the prestige and luxury they offer to those who choose to spend their later years in them.
At first glance at The Hogewey Care Centre, a 25-minute drive from Amsterdam might seem like an ordinary town - a central square, a supermarket, barbershop, theater, pub, and coffee shop. But by looking into it a little more, you will discover that this is an unusual town: it was built and designed especially for the 152 elderly, most who suffer dementia and Alzheimer's, who live there. From the store sellers to the post office clerk to the waiters at the coffee shop - every one of the 250 service providers who operate this town for its residents is actually a member of a medical team in disguise who take care of and treat the “towns” elderly residents.
This project is a pioneer in its field - this nursing village, which opened its doors in 2009, is the first place in the world to operate in such a model. Its goal is to provide treatment for Alzheimer's patients in a way that they will be able to continue their lives relatively well while living in a protected community where they’ll feel welcome and good. In the small town there are about 13 houses, each of which houses between 6 and 7 patients, each with a different personality, depending on the background of the residents residing in it: one is decorated in an urban style, the other is aristocratic, one for those who used to be craftsmen and another for those who had a religious life - everything was done so that the elderly residents of the village would feel as if they had never left their homes.
In the heart of Shizuoka, Japan, one of the most beautiful provinces in the country, affectionately called the Japanese Riviera and some 185 kilometers from Tokyo, hides a place that seems to have come from fairy tales: five bright, light wooden buildings designed in the form of teepees, with cone-shaped roofs in the middle of the natural grove. This area may look like a fairytale elf village, but those who delve into the essence of the place will discover that it is one of the most beautiful and artfully decorated nursing homes in the world.
This 1,900-square-meter special complex is the brainchild of Nobu Sumo and Sachiko Fujika, two women in their 60s who worked together for years in the welfare field in Tokyo. With the help of the Japanese architect Assi Soma, they designed and established Jikka (a nursing home in Japanese), a magical place for the adult population and designed accordingly: the various rooms - including the bedrooms, the kitchen and the communal dining room, and more - were designed without stairs and with wheelchairs access. All the structures have a raised and pointed ceiling and are filled with openings designed for the entrance of natural light, which covers the space and encourages healing, tranquility, and peace of mind.
The massive earthquake that hit India in 2004 brought with it a massive tsunami that swept the country's shores, causing untold destruction in hundreds of cities and villages along the Indian Ocean coastline, taking the lives of about 300,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless. This difficult human tragedy led to the establishment of one of the most exciting humanity projects for India's third-age population: the Tamaraikulam Elders Village, dedicated entirely to the rehabilitation of the elderly who were affected by the tsunami and left lonely and destitute.
This vast village, located in the Kudalur district of Tamil Nadu, in the south of the Indian subcontinent, was established by HelpAge India, a non-profit charity, and by donations from the popular NDTV channel. About 80 residents live in the compound and it was designed to help them recover from the tragedy that struck them. The place is used by its residents as a home and community for all intents and purposes, and with the help of a dedicated team of caregivers, the elderly were able to return to a normal and active life, and engage in daily tasks such as gardening, animal care, cooking and more.
If in old age your only dream is to reach the end of the world and live there - in front of the wide-open landscapes of the Pacific Ocean, in a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere and in a small and loveable community of people like you - then "Bethlehem Shores" a pensioner’s village, is exactly the place for you. It is true that in order to realize your dream of living here you’ll have to travel and pay millions of dollars, but if the penny is in your pocket - is there a better time than now to spend it?
This particularly prestigious pensioners' village, with 150 beautiful residential units where you can see the beautiful scenery of gorgeous New Zealand, was designed - as you can probably already guess - for a particularly affluent population that wants to enjoy life in the golden age. Leisure facilities such as a gym, pool, spa, and clubhouse are spread throughout the place available to the pensioners living here, who enjoy an endless abundance of recreational and social activities.
