@sammi Thanks for the suggestions but I am not a senior and I have spent several years trying to access these services. They are either unavailable or inappropriate for my needs. It has been heartbreaking and humiliating TBO.

I need to be in a kind of care for #chronicIllness folks that doesn't exist yet. Basically hospice care for ppl not dying. Light support, focus on comfort and quality of life, rest and hopefully some recovery.
More info #convalescentCommunities

#Canada #Ontario #ODSP

I am looking to hire a social worker or equivalent in Ontario for 5-10hrs/mo. Eastern ON area, but can likely do remote.

Need someone hip with the complex bureaucracy of supports. But more importantly someone innovative, wanting to explore and foster change and create new things - because existing supports are shite.

#socialWorker #sw #Ontario #chronicIllness #disability #support

Potentially more hrs if you can suss out a grant to pay you to help build #convalescentCommunities

1/2

@Aphrodite

And I am definitely pro-lufting. I keep windows open pretty much year round. Things feel stuffy and stale and gross otherwise. And I definitely can't breathe if it gets too hot inside.

I also like being able to hear outside noises when I can't be outside, the birds, the wind, the patter of rain.... and the smells. Can you smell weather?

#convalescentCommunities

@Aphrodite

I find the outdoors super therapeutic. I will often build pillow nests outside just to feel more alive, within my slothitude.

Rest, combined with nature would be at the core of what I am envisioning. Support with meals and household stuff, so spoons can be spent resting, walking, napping, sitting and staring at trees.

It soothes our souls while we rest and gently move our bodies.

#convalescentCommunities

#convalescentCommunities

Ok, ya'll are brilliant and inspiring af, but I have to rest my brain.

Will mute this, and catch up with any more replies tomorrow. In the meantime, talk amongst yerselves. 💖

Dream big. We deserve rest. We deserve care.

#convalescentCommunities

@liseo definitely a sketch of something that could work.

In my mind currently there wouldn't be live in "staff" just foodprep and housekeeping help that came in. But that is more based on this gap of: "don't need a lot of help but need a little bit of help desperately" that is a bit different from current small carehome models.

That said, I am LOVING all this conversation. I am sure someone else is stealing ideas for their own situation. 🧡

#convalescentCommunities

@liseo Yes! This kind of integration would be an excellent example of phase two. Spin offs od co-housing with shared/overlapping needs and abilities once people can connect in a neighborhood.

The phase one house would be a place for really ill people to rest and recover, and/or meeting ground to then set up their own lil housing cohorts of lighter care and more mixed abilities.

Flexible, adaptive, integrated.

#convalescentCommunities

@liseo There is no physical structure yet.

I am thinking more of the bring people together that have otherwise been living alone into a shared house of some sort. But there are all kinds of options like tiny house villages, or a fourplex, or wee apartment building as well.

A community of people who share resources is more my goal than a granny suite single adapted unit in someone's home, if that is what you are asking.

#convalescentCommunities

Lookout world! She's pulled out a notebook!

#convalescentCommunities

@liseo I am thinking smaller house-like units of 4-6ppl, just so we can make use of existing infrastructure, rather than wait on big complexes to be built.

Making them as accessible and flexible as possible would be a good goal for sure.

#convalescentCommunities

@liseo A respite house in an excellent way to describe it.

Setting geography aside, what sorts of things would you need in a respite house?

#convalescentCommunities

@liseo my bad, I didn't specify. I am in Canada, in Ontario. But absolutely follow this tag, maybe enough #aussies will connect for you folks to build something there.

#convalescentCommunities

Most immediately, I need someone with writing skills and executive function to help me organize content for the website.

I have all the stuff in my head, but struggle to thread it together in ways others can follow (man! I miss this part of my writing brain so much! ☹️).

So a tag team brain dump/polish system would be awesome.

Can be done from anywhere in the world, and done in fits and starts if yer busy/not super healthy.

Alright! Let's do this!

#convalescentCommunities

I am starting to gather people and resources, so if you are interested either in helping build something locally in #Guelph or if you want to be part of the planning so you can create something in your area let me know. We'll have a WhatsApp group to discuss, and a WordPress website to help organize ourselves and our plans. Plus I invite lots of tooter-traffic on the #convalescentCommunities
tag.

I wanna hear your ideas, your dreams, your links of other cool stuff happening.

What they have going on in Junction Village Guelph is what I would like to model it after, except we need the soft place to land of a core recovery house to start with, then go back to your life or find a cohort to build a co-living home within the area (depending on whether you needed a break or a new living arrangement).

https://tinyhomesincanada.ca/junction-village-a-community-of-friends-and-family-in-guelph-on/

#convalescentCommunities #guelph #ODSP #intentionalCommunites #housing #spoonies #longCovid

So, the results of this survey are interesting. A surprising number of people just want to live in a healthier recuperative environment, period.

I think there is good potential for a house with a mix of permanent residents and more short term visits.

Am gonna try and build something in #Guelph so doing a call out for anyone who might be interested.

Also looking for help, local or remote. More incoming on the tag:

#convalescentCommunities

https://disabled.social/@vlrny/109995680728655091

☝️There's still one day to vote on this survey re convalescent centric communities and collaborative care.

So if you are tired or struggling for any reason, anywhere, drop a vote and maybe a comment. We are still at blue sky thinking here, but we're all falling through care gaps, maybe it's time to catch each other instead.

I will designate the tag #convalescentCommunities as a gathering place to plan/hope.

#spoonies #housing #care #radicalSocialWork #intentionalCommunities #socialJustice