First stone of the mutualist residence for the elderly: “A magnificent day for Labastide-Saint-Pierre”

The cold was there this Saturday morning, December 14 in Labastide-Saint-Pierre (Tarn-et-Garonne), but it was not that of indifference. A strong imagination always produces events, and we again had proof of this during the laying of the first stone of the future retirement home which will be built here, in the center of the village, in La Rougette.

A very important set developed by the Mutualité Française, whose president Serge Berrier keeps in mind that it is necessary to act locally, and with relevance: “To tell you the truth, twenty years is a good age, because the first sketch of this idea dates back two decades.” A real way of the cross for this project which will include around sixty beds, and which will cost a whopping 12 million euros. 60% will be financed by the Mutualité française, and the rest by the Regional Health Agency and the Department of Tarn-et-Garonne.

“Thanks to relevant help from Mr. Prefect, suffice to say that the sun has risen, we are today in the tender process, and in eighteen months, you will come with hats for inaugurate this facility under the sun”, concluded the president of the Departmental Union of the French Mutuality who considers that it would not be honest not to respect the elders.

It was not Mayor Jérôme Beq, who recalled the genesis of this intention, who could say the opposite. However, it took time, since a simple suggestion around a round table in Jean-Michel Baylet’s office, for things to settle down: “We took a deliberation in 2010, then responded to the requirements of the gerontological plan “. Sometimes with humor, the councilor did not skimp on metaphors, comparing the Mutualité Française to solid concrete, and to a major opportunity for the territory like the forty employees who will contribute to an obvious vitality.

The president of the departmental council Michel Weill in turn welcomed the initiative, arguing for great intergenerational initiatives to come thanks to local facilities: “All this thanks to quality partners to overcome constraints”.

Determination and enthusiasm

It was the turn of former minister Jean-Michel Baylet to praise the great success of a perilous process, taking the example of the Fermat Museum in Beaumont-de-Lomagne which took 30 years to blossom: “Voluntarism is still expresses in this file, a twenty-year fight during which we have never given up, I had also promised you to do everything”, analyzed Mr. Baylet, evoking with humor a magical triangular with three fairies. “We are present, what pride, today is a moment of happiness”, he added, welcoming the presence of former minister Sylvia Pinel and thanking “an efficient and facilitating prefectural team”.

For Didier Jaffre, regional director of the ARS: “You are the living translation of the way health should be thought of, because it is not a question of saying, but of doing”.

Finally, Edwige Darracq, sub-prefect, underlined that this project was part of an ecological transition and in an artificialized area: “There is a centrifugal aspect with the proximity of the Toulouse basin, we have put a little oil in the cogs.”

To tell about a project is to already realize it, and between now and the opening of the mutualist residence La Rougette, in the summer of 2026, suffice to say that age does not erase dreams.