At the beginning of her dementia, my mother was still very fit and loved to hike. ... Assisted living wasn't an option because she managed to escape the closed ward (by climbing like a cat onto a shed, into a tree and down the tree on the other side of the fence!).
Wow, that's really impressive!
The facility was a former castle with gardens that was closed off (with high fences and walls, no trees close to the fence 
) to the outside, but totally open once you're in. People could stroll around in the gardens or courtyard and several main and side buildings. There were also lots of different activities and my mother was even able to go on a hiking vacation in Italy with a group. They also had a ward for people with high dependence. So while they didn't take in people with a high need of bodily care to begin with, they also didn't have to kick out people once they got older/more dependent.
That sounds idyllic. Is it still there? What's its name? I just received a writing assignment from a website that looks at big issues from a global perspective. The part I'm working on has to do with aging. This piece will be a more general, overall examination of the issue. But if I ever write about "places that have found great housing solutions for aging people" or something, I'd look into it!
I wonder if other European castles have been repurposed this way. Don't many/most of them have high walls around them? Seems like a great solution.
I'm reading
Being Mortal by Atul Gawande, the New Yorker writer/successful doctor/critic of unhelpful American medical practices. It's kind of a depressing book, frankly. But he found a few homes sort of like that -- not in castles, but places that let their residents remain as independent as possible and make their own choices, even if the choices aren't necessarily the safest or most healthy. His point is that the U.S. medical system is trained to prioritize safety and longevity, whatever that might entail, over older people's happiness and contentedness with their lives.
