The La Meridiana Cooperative of Monza began to be visionary in 1976 by opening the first day center for the elderly in an uninhabited farmhouse inside the park of Monza, then protected accommodation for the elderly in the location that was the birthplace of San Gerardo, then a Model Rsa, in 2014 the Slancio center for neurological patients and people suffering from ALS and in 2018 the
Renovation
«We chose 20 – explains Roberto Mauri, president and founder of La Meridiana – precisely because 20 is the key number that describes the new structure. In fact, there are twenty beds, placed in ten rooms with every comfort and designed to encourage peaceful hospitality. twenty are the minimum days of temporary hospitalization and finally twenty are the departments of all the socio-health structures of the cooperative”.
The new spaces were created from the complete renovation of the old 770 square meter day center within the Viale Cesare Battisti complex owned by the Opera Diocesana San Vincenzo which already houses the Residenza San Pietro and the Centro Slancio.
Beauty and care
Inside, rooms with attention to every detail, a gym for rehabilitation, a multipurpose room, a convivial room. Everywhere panels with photographs of Monza: from the cathedral to the racetrack and then the works of art created by Aldo Bottoli, a teacher for over forty years between Design schools and the Polytechnic of Milan because “beauty is part of the cure”.
The Center aims to be a lifeline in fragile situations that break the balance within families. «Just the other day – explains Mauri – a family called me: the ninety-year-old father who looked after his wife suffering from Alzheimer’s at home had a neurological problem and is in hospital. Upon resigning, he will be able to spend a few weeks here with us and in the meantime our team of professionals has worked to find a carer and train her, while our architects have been to his home to evaluate how to break down some architectural barriers and allow him to return to his home and thus avoid hospitalization in the Rsa”.
Vision of the future
The new structure was therefore designed to respond to a felt need: to assist the elderly in the phases in which they urgently require greater care due to temporary loss of autonomy and thus to relieve both families and hospital facilities.
«Our time needs visionary people – the words of Archbishop Mario Delpini – men and women who have a vision of future needs and are able to solicit the participation of the community, finding consensus to realize their project».
