The Astrolabe living house in Cahuzac-sur-Vère was inaugurated on May 13 in the presence of many personalities. An alternative place between hospital and home, it already welcomes people who are vulnerable due to illness, disability or advanced age.
In the huge bright kitchen, three boarders converse peacefully with Magali, one of the two mistresses of the house. “My job is to allow each tenant to find their place within the collective and to be attentive to each of them to break the isolation”, specifies the employee. Among them, Jacky. He left his house in the Hérault where he lives alone to spend two months in this house of life. He benefits from the presence of a member of his family in the commune of Cahuzac who can visit him. Most of the other tenants are there year-round.
This is the case of Odette, 95 years old. “I chose to come here. I lived right next door. I had a small house but I was alone. All my life, I served my family.”
A place of conviviality
The nonagenarian most often moves with the assistance of an armchair, but she surprises with her dynamism and her eloquence. “Now that I’m here, I see people again. I do coloring, crosswords, music,” she says, smiling and pointing to the table in her large bedroom. “And now it’s time for the gym!”. In the patio that frames the 12 rooms of the Astrolabe house, all the tenants come together and the inhabitants of Cahuzac also come to participate.
The structure is a place open to the outside. “The Astrolabe House is a living and local support house for vulnerable people who wish to come and live or spend a holiday”, underlines Delphine Calicis. The nurse is now president of the association. “It’s about breaking the isolation linked to a disability, illness or the advancing age of vulnerable people. In this place, we also have security linked to the nursing home with a doctor, nurses. The The time during which these people come to us allows their caregivers, often the family, to breathe a little. But they too can come and spend some time here.”
If the living house responds in particular to the needs linked to the aging of the population, it welcomes people of all ages. “We have a young woman in her twenties who joined us after going through the Oncopole”.
This associative project, Delphine Calicis carries it with other members of the association since its origin in 2017. A long obstacle course to lead to the construction and the opening of the place on February 1, 2023. The town hall gave up the land and the building was financed by the Works of Father Colombier who own it.
Difficult legal recognition
The volunteers also fought to have the interest of the Astrolabe house recognized. But if the regional health agency or the departmental council in particular support the project, it is not always easy to fit into the boxes of the administration to allow tenants to benefit from aid.
“You are ahead of your time,” an institutional manager once told us, recalls Delphine Calicis. Between the field of medico-social and health, residential homes, an alternative place between hospital and home, are still struggling to find their place.
The institutional partners will nevertheless be present this Saturday, May 13 for the official inauguration of the Astrolabe house and its palliative orientation.