WHO ARE WE?
ABIGAIL was registered as a non-profit housing and care project for adult lifestyle living in place and Community Care Solutions Ltd is a Management Company for Abigail Non-Profit Residences and Care Organization -
Our Mission Statement “Our mission is to challenge the existing approach to seniors’ housing and care, and to reframe the community attitude to ageing, care and housing. This innovative approach is to be developed within an intergenerational community, resulting in smaller, affordable, flexible co-housing, and co-operative community based care plans, maintaining where possible, a sustainable environment.”
Abigail Non-Profit Residences and Care is part of the vision of Community Care Solutions (CCS) that has been working with the Community and Senior Care since 1998. Abigail Non-Profit is a proactive organization advocating for seniors and people in need.
Through Community Care Solutions we have provided front line services for seniors, online education and community capacity building on issues of elder abuse, social isolation and Elder Care solutions of housing, care providers and volunteer programs.
From formalizing the education of workers involved in the care for seniors, the founder of the education and training Gail Acton developed the PSW certification program in Ontario. CCS has assisted 20,000, who are now certified Caregivers/PSWs. Additionally Gail Acton has worked with 40,000 individuals of all ages to develop work skills during periods of unemployment preparing them for the workplace.
Abigail Non-Profit Residences and Care has developed the pilot senior housing concept at their Owen Sound CCS Village site providing affordable housing for 20 seniors over the past three years and 400 seniors through programs.
Abigail Not-for-Profit Housing and Care works in Grey Bruce Region working with the community to enhance the lifestyle and caring of seniors. The organization works on diverse aspects of senior care including advocacy, education, training of support workers, care services and housing. Abigail Not-for-Profit Housing and Care has established the CCS Village in Georgian Bluffs near Owen Sound with four rental units that have been designed and constructed as a pilot project. Our plan is now to extend this number to over fifty living units with common facilities, on a sustainable environmental site .
The purpose of the Abigail Non-Profit Residences and Care organization is to:
• provide advocacy for seniors
• develop innovations in housing and care services.
• develop a community atmosphere with volunteers who are motivated to help towards changing the community to an age-friendly community.
• encourage residents to actively participate in the community, including the workforce, recreational opportunities, social activities and volunteer opportunities
• encourage people of all ages, backgrounds and circumstances to interact, share experiences and contribute to their community.
• create greater opportunities for businesses via an incubator for senior’s business ventures, providing more active employment opportunities for mature workers and persons with disabilities.
The proposed housing and care project of fifty homes is an innovative approach to affordable housing, as well as an ecological approach to waste disposal and power generation. We are developing co-housing and flexible housing styles within a community design, which combines the independence and autonomy of private homes with the advantages of common amenities, and a village-style support system. The concept was birthed in Scandinavia, and is in contrast to the rugged individualist of Grey County. The innovation is for housing and care, that is building communities, and smaller homes, that fit the needs of an ageing population and starter homes for young adults with universal design, accessibility, safety, and co-caring, mutual support to meet the needs of residents.
Issues identified in Ageing over twenty years in the seniors’ sector, we have identified many issues regarding ageing in our society. In Ontario, singles or elder couples living alone are isolated and suffer a life of solitude, and loneliness with the dissolution of family and many suffer loneliness, even in institutional care settings. They run the risk of chronic loneliness, illness and premature death with couples whose children are deceased or single, divorced or widowed.
Being socially connected increases psychological and emotional well-being, and has a positive influence on physical health, The type of housing, how we face ageing, poor health, family relationships, care and affordability, all help the individual through closer community experiences. In order to change this direction, we have to look for a shift in consciousness, and a re-imagining of community, to becoming neighbourly. Ageing in a community is proactive, and fosters interdependence and communal living, while providing opportunities and reciprocal service to each participant.