Toulouse: they imagined a shared apartment for the elderly
La Maison d’Elisa et François was created thanks in particular to Toulouse residents Nathalie Rudloff and Claude Fréjaville. It wants to be a “more humane” alternative to nursing homes for seniors.
Nathalie Rudloff and Claude Fréjaville have lived in the same building, avenue Jean Chaubet, in Toulouse, for 8 years. She, on the 5th floor; him on the 4th (for 30 years). She is 52 years old; he 85 years old. She addresses him as you, he addresses her as tu. She is a graphic designer; he, a calligrapher, in other words, they share the same love of writing and words. When Nathalie Rudloff and Claude Fréjaville met, they immediately recognized each other. “Between us, it’s a meeting of souls. It’s wonderful how close we can be,” says Nathalie Rudloff.
Also when Claude Fréjaville had to be hospitalized for three months, “for a problem of dialysis”, his condition was not flamboyant. “My morale was at its lowest, I had no idea how I was going to get out of it, if I was going to be able to come back to my apartment or be placed in an EHPAD,” recalls the octogenarian. The fact that Claude could leave his apartment overnight would disturb Nathalie deeply. Also to anticipate this inconvenience, the two neighbors “very attached to each other” decided to take the bull by the horns by thinking about an inclusive shared housing for the elderly, which is a real alternative to the EHPAD . Nathalie then worked “on this very human project which was intended to be an extension of my life in an apartment”, continues the calligrapher. This is how “La Maison d’Elisa et François” was born. It is located in Verdun in Ariège, and will be able to accommodate 6 to 7 seniors, from October.
This habitat, in the course of acquisition, includes two adjoining and communicating buildings. Each resident is a tenant of his studio and shares common rooms located on the ground floor, with a garden, chickens, but also workshops to create links. “La Maison d’Elisa et François” is supported by the association “Verdun les Arts”, and supported by the CCI of Foix, the community of Haute-Ariège municipalities, the PETR, the Department, the Region, Solidarity Families…
” like home “
Because she appreciates the chance of knowing a person like Claude – “and vice versa”, adds the person concerned – Nathalie wanted to invest herself in offering him a dignified and supportive end of life. “This project is for him and other seniors, because my path has always been lined with seniors. I’ve always had great friends of a certain age. These are people who have a lived experience and a history that constitute a great wealth,” discovered Nathalie. The idea is to design other habitats of the same type afterwards, “where everyone feels at home”, because the House of Elisa and François is already complete.