A Marpa designates a rural home for the elderly. These are residences for seniors wishing to maintain their autonomy, small in size, whose objective is above all social and the guarantee of the well-being of the residents. Nearly 5,000 elderly people live in a Marpa today in France.
A rural home for the elderly (Marpa) is a residence for seniors that takes the form of a non-profit establishment that can be managed by a public or private structure, or an association. These are small units that accommodate few seniors at a time (under 25).
The Marpa are labeled by the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA) which defines a framework based on major principles such as the guarantee of a life "like at home", anchoring in the territory, cooperation and mutualisation between the Marpa, etc
One of the specificities of a Marpa is to welcome seniors as a priority, who no longer want to live alone at home but in a secure environment where they can create links and continue to live actively, from the territory where installed the Marpa.
In this type of facility for seniors, residents benefit from housing that they can arrange and decorate as they see fit, with the main aim of recreating landmarks similar to their former home to feel good, at home. previously. Housing costs are moderate. The families of the residents are also associated for all the decisions taken for their loved one who lives in a Marpa.
Each senior who lives in a Marpa has the possibility of taking advantage of the services available in the structure such as the provision of meals, household services, laundry, etc., but this is not an obligation. Each resident benefits from it according to his needs and of course his financial possibilities.
A Marpa does not have nursing staff integrated into the structure. Each senior is free to call on a doctor, a nurse, a physiotherapist, etc., of their choice, often the local health professionals they called on when they lived at home.
In the same way, the Marpa offer entertainment to their residents for a warm and friendly life, but each of them is free to participate or not.
An elderly person residing in a Marpa is free to enter and leave their establishment as they wish, according to their needs and personal activities.
From an architectural point of view, a Marpa is built so that seniors above all feel good in their place of life. In the same way, the functioning of these atypical residences is essentially based on the well-being of its residents.
Residents are thus considered citizens first and foremost. Thus, their identity, dignity and right to privacy must be respected. In addition, they are invited to participate in the life of their Marpa, for example by getting involved in the social life council of each of these establishments where questions concerning the life of the residence on a daily basis are discussed.
The Marpa are governed by a charter which mentions their founding principles, mainly "reasoned support for residents in an ambitious approach to local social development ". These residences for seniors are intended to be warm, lively, supportive places to live, rooted in the territory where they are located, and guarantors of the fundamental rights of the people they welcome.
The well-being of the residents of a Marpa also depends on the fact that they continue to live near their former home. They can thus continue to frequent very easily their old acquaintances, and also their relatives. This is one of the objectives of the Marpa:that the seniors who live there maintain the ties they had before joining this structure.
A Marpa is a small living unit where each senior can choose their way of life and above all benefit from services that help them maintain their independence for as long as possible.
On the other hand, everything is done by the managers of the Marpa so that elderly people with modest incomes who so wish can also integrate such a structure, by supporting, for example, the search for possible financial aid from the public authorities, pension funds, etc.
