A GUIDE TO HELP TO ADAPT HOUSES FOR PEOPLE WITH COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

Presentation of GUIAGOXO

When one of the members of a family is diagnosed with dementia, it has multiple and profound consequences. Among them, the need to adapt their environment in the short, and especially in the long term, in order to facilitate the lives of all family members.

Eight out of 10 people with Alzheimer’s are cared for in private homes but only two out of 10 homes where there are people with this disease are adapted (Sanitas Mayores, 2018). This causes that, both caregivers and people suffering from Alzheimer’s, barriers are found in their own homes daily.

The Guíagoxo that was presented on Friday 20th of september, has no other intention than to compile the general characteristics of housing design for people with cognitive impairment, and to serve as a guide for family members, caregivers and professionals to help create spaces that increase their quality of life.

Guiagoxo is part of the ETXEGOXO Project, financed by the Diputación de Gipuzkoa within the ADINBERRI 2018 call.

The ETXEGOXO team consists of ERROTU and AFAGI, with the collaboration of the EHU-UPV School of Architecture, the anthropologist Beatriz Moral Ledesma, and the graphic and content design team Liquid Dinamic.

La Guiagoxo consists of two first sections where the importance of the surrounding environment of the dwelling and the figure of caregivers who live with people diagnosed with dementia are emphasized.

The guide continues detailing the general aspects of the houses that we must take into account when adapting them to people with cognitive impairment, ending with the detail of each room of the house and the particularities that we must take into account in each of these parts that make up our homes.