Building communities to fight loneliness – EurActiv, 24 May 2023.
“Parrots are happier when they talk to other parrots,” Elizabeth Mestheneos, the former president of AGE Platform Europe, said in a speech at the kickoff event of the European Mental Health Week on Monday (22 May), referring to an experiment on communication and socialising.
“AGE Platform Europe is an association that advocates for the inclusion of older people in EU policies. “
“For me, it was a lesson about how much we as human beings need the other”, said Mestheneos.
““Something that happens to older people is that they begin to lose the people they can see, and the people they can touch, and we are animals, we need that”, said Mestheneos.”
“AGE Platform Europe works with this idea, calling for more age-friendly environments and communities. They ask for facilities for older people that are neighbourhood-based, proximate, and accessible, with the objective of helping them maintain relationships.”
