Latest progress:
This project is closing... but... it will continue as abetterplace.io!
Maarten, posted on On May 3, 2012
Grandpa/ma alert! Looking for an elderly man or woman!!
This month I'll try to help the elderly, but how to get in touch with those who feel like company or are in need of help?! Help me find them! Do you know somebody? Let me know! If not, share this and help me find them!!
Comments
Well, maybe this organisation could advise or or use some help? http://www.boodschappenplusbus.org/index.html
Welll....
Elderly people , sitting behind their geraniums, are not the sort of people that will react on your alert. Allthough: maybe someone would like you to visit and take him, or her, out. But: that someone wil not, ever, say so in public. He , or she thinks it is not"decent".
And: fairly the most of the not that elderly people (most of the readers of your blog), not yet sitting behind geraniums but in full life, will ever tell you of someone in particular sitting old and lonely and neglected behind geraniums. Because: When that not so elderly someone would name someone, the obvious question would be: but why didn't you ever visit that lonely geranium men/woman yourself allready???!!!!
Having said this: just asking on the net for lonely elderly people, preferably in Rotterdam is not ( this is my opinion, there maybe other people with other opinions) the most effective way in spotting elderly people that would like to get out of their houses but can't.
You will have to go out of your appartment and actively (not digitally) start looking for seniors yourself. Go and do it.
@Margriet, thanks for the link! This is an unknown area for me so it helps a lot when people share their knowledge... I also got in touch with 'Het Ouderenfonds' (www.ouderenfonds.nl) and they are helping me out as well!
@Froukje, thankfully there are many ways to Rome and this is only one of the roads I'm taking. I did get responses btw and even visited somebody because of it!
Oma Aadje
https://vimeo.com/41666158This month I'm focusing my energy on the elderly. And today I did my first visit!
I think it's extremely easy to find elderly that do not come out of the house a lot: visit any elderly care facility, go to the nurses office, explain your project and set limits to the amount of time you are willing to spend! Ofcourse they first want to know if you're some kind of nutjob, but if you offer first to read a newspaper in the shared living room or something like that, so they can see for themselves... If you like, I could introduce you in Arnhem in several places ;)
Thanks Verena, I actually have quite some people already that I will probably visit! If I have more time then coming to visit people in Arnhem sounds nice! (I'm getting used to being thought of as a nutjob btw :-)
I'm part of Wake Up Utrecht and a few months ago someone there had the idea of going to an elderly care home with a small group and offer to organise some session to listen to what the elderly people would like to tell about themselves and their lives. Because it's always nice if someone wants to hear what you have to say. We have not put it into practice yet...