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House – Surroundings - Care - Well-being.

What is good for the elderly is good for everyone.
Facilities for the elderly are often being called necessities and for the younger generation the same facilities are being called comfort.
It is to be recommended to make use of facilities which increase comfort.
An example is so-called ¨domotica¨: home automation. Electronic safety appliances like alarms, tap stops, electronic locks.

Figure 15. Senior Citizens HousingTest.

Aids to review the house and surroundings adequately.
An organisation for the elderly developed the Senior Citizens HousingTest. By means of a checklist 90 aspects of housing and surroundings are being judged. The senior citizen can also indicate which aspects are of major importance to him or her.
An extensive and professional assessment to indicate whether or not a house is suitable for senior citizens is the Housing test. It is expensive and only relevant if one really intends to convert the house or to move.

Assess the surroundings properly too.
The surroundings should be judged properly, because the aged can hardly influence these. Pay attention to the proximity of shops, medical facilities, library and theatre. Are roads and paths accessible to power chairs and walkers? Are the surroundings safe? Is vegetation dense or transparent? Is Public Transport within reach?

Figure 16. Audience.

Care.
Holland has about 2,000,000 so-called ¨mantle carers¨, unpaid volunteers who take care of 80 % of the domestic help and care of relatives and friends.
Professional help is paid for by AWBZ, after it has been authorised by The Regional Indicative Council (RIO). Another form of subsidy is the Individual Personal Budget, the granting of an amount of money that enables the applicant to arrange domestic aid individually.

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