Beer pong and mobility walkers at retirement home
A Dutch retirement home is combating social isolation by having students live among the elderly residents. Sara Meij reports.
Beer pong, parties and students living next door are all part of life at a Dutch retirement home. Humanitas, in Deventer, central Netherlands, has used an intergenerational living scheme since 2012. The country might be on the other side of the world to New Zealand, but it faces similar issues in home affordability and social isolation.
Six students live for free in the same quarters as the elderly, under the proviso they help around the place for at least 30 hours a month.
One of the students is Sores Duman, 28, who says the way of living at Humanitas is what made him want to give it a go.
‘‘[It’s] warm, simple and everybody is welcome.’’
The elderly living at Humanitas are still ‘‘full of life’’, he says. ‘‘[They] can be crazy too. When we throw birthday parties or when we play beer pong, they love to join us.’’
Duman believes the sharedhousing concept is useful in combating the social isolation that elderly people or those in rest homes can experience.
‘‘In this home the elderly tell us that we bring the outside world in. We don’t consider our home as a care home but as a community.’’
The students living at Humanitas can learn a lot from the elderly, Duman says. ‘‘They have so much experience in life.
‘‘Although they’re not aware of it they teach us to enjoy the little things in life, the value of having a cup of coffee together, a five-minute talk.’’
Marty Weulink, 93, came to live at Humanitas 11 years ago with her husband, who has since died.
She says that, even though she is in her 90s, ‘‘mentally I’m still 20’’.
She enjoys living together with students as they bring ‘‘a lot of fun’’ into the home.
She doesn’t feel lonely ‘‘at all’’ as she still does a lot of things by herself or with the students.
The shared-housing concept should be rolled out nationwide and worldwide, Weulink says. ‘‘I love it here, I’m very glad to be living here.’’
Humanitas Deventer chief executive Gea Sijpkes says she had the idea in 2012 of mixing students with the elderly in Humanitas, in an effort to create a ‘‘warm and rich’’ environment for the elderly without running up organisational costs.
Humanitas in Deventer is the first organisation to trial intergenerational living in this way.
‘‘I had to think of something, and I believe in the power and energy of youth,’’ Sijpkes says.
The students bring the ‘‘outside world in’’, by telling their stories, bringing home their friends and romances.
The biggest benefit of the shared living for the students is the development of ‘‘excellent social skills’’.
‘‘For the elderly it’s the joy of having young people around, talking and being really a part of their young lives.
‘‘And yes, there is less social isolation. It is as if we ‘injected life’ in the house.’’
She says the organisation is working on a description of the model at the moment so it can be rolled out elsewhere.
‘‘In this home the elderly tell us that we bring the outside world in.’’ Sores Duman