A farm created for and with nursing home residents in Belgium
Under the name ‘Jardin des Curèyes’, a farm yard has been set up in the garden of a nursery home in Theux, Belgium. While being the beneficiaries of the initiative, older residents were also the designers and actors of the project, which they had been following right from the beginning. Apart from the 15 residents […]
‘Les Compagnons dépanneurs’ promotes senior volunteering and supports disadvantaged persons in Belgium
Since several decades now, the Belgian non-for-profit assocation ‘Les Compagnons Déménageurs‘ have been offering support to disadvantaged persons across Belgium. A wide range of services are provided by more than 270 volunteers aged between 15 and 85: housing rehabilitation or repair support, such as painting and wallpapering or plumbing/electricity/carpentry work, and other services such as […]
Free online training modules for informal carers launched in France
Ahead of the national informal carers’ day on 6 October 2017, the French Carers’ association (‘Association Française des Aidants’) has launched a free online interactive training tool designed to support family carers in their daily life. The training is made up of six modules of about 20 minutes addressing various aspects of informal care, such […]
Geekzie supports intergenerational links and digital inclusion in old age
Geekzie is a French startup created by a young business student to break digital divide in old age while promoting intergenerational interactions. It brings together older persons willing to know how to use a computer, tablet or smartphone and young students who wish to do small jobs alongside their studies. What makes Geekzie services innovating […]
‘Viktor’ facilitate access to digital services in daily life
Viktor is a connected cushion aimed to assist dependent persons in their daily lives and help them keep in contact with their families and friends. It acts like a digital remote control panel, related to the television screen via Bluetooth. Very user-friendly, the cushion offers a variety of services: its manages the appointments, makes dishes, […]
Belgian city offers free home administrative service to 75+ inhabitants
The city of Mons in Belgium has launched a new project of administrative service at home offered to the inhabitants aged 75 and over and to persons with reduced mobility. The service, funded under the urban policy programme of the Walloon Region, is free of charge and can be requested through a phone call to […]
Senior citizens become experts in ageing research in Quebec
The population of Quebec is one of the fastest ageing populations in the world. Determined to better meet the needs of the older population, researchers from the Sherbrooke University in Montreal have joined forces with the greatest ageing experts: senior citizens, who take part in every stage of an extraordinary scientific study aimed to value […]
Dating site for seniors in Belgium
For seniors who enjoy going out and making new friends, AGE Flemish organisation OKRA has developped a ‘dating site’ for persons aged 55+ who wish to come into contact with others for sharing activities. You can place your dating call for free and make a selection of contacts according to the activities you like and […]
Intergenerational senior residence in the Netherlands
In Deventer, in the Netherlands, the senior residence Humanitas provides free accommodation for students. In return they commit to spending at least 30 hours of their time every month with their older co-residents. This win-win solution enables, on the one hand, students to access accommodation in a country where rents are very high and, on […]
Fit2work advises and supports on health problems at work
Fit2work is an Austrian initiative that supports long-term employment in line with the worker’s health needs. It provides free advisory services if your job is at risk because of health problems or if you have difficulty finding work. It is also aimed at people who have been / are in hospital for a long time […]
Care farms provide nursing home care in the Netherlands
Care farms are extensively used in the Netherlands as an alternative to day care centres for people in need of care, including people with dementia. They aim to offer new care concept directed towards small-scale and homelike environments. The care is often organized in smaller units, usually with 6–8 residents, in which personal care and […]
EmploiSenior.net: an online platform for senior workers
To boost the employment of seniors in France, a new web platform has been created: EmploiSenior.net. The online service provides 66 employment categories split in three themes: jobs proposed by private individuals, jobs proposed by professional and seniors’ applications. The types of job offers are very wide: it ranges from child care to corporate counselling. […]
Free taxi service to polling station in France
A French taxi driver from the Côtes d’Armor region (Brittany) offers free taxi services to bring older people to the polling stations for the upcoming elections in France. Although it is possible for seniors to vote by proxy, this is not always simple and it requires asking a reliable person in one’s surrounding. Since the […]
Dementia trained hairdressers in UK care homes
The Lily Pins is a UK hairdressing company which provides dementia-trained hairdressers in care homes. Currently 12 hairdressers are serving 18 care homes in Kent, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. It also employs beauticians and chiropodists. As a recent study found, hairdressing and other appearance-related services have an important role to play in the broader therapeutic […]
Elderlinked: a Belgian digital platform to support independent living at home
Elderlinked is a digital tool founded by two young entrepreneurs to bring assistance to older persons in their everyday life at home, namely with medicine intake, activity reminder, nurses’ assistance, family interactions, etc. The cloud infrastructure facilitates exchanges and follow-up between older persons and their family, their carers and Elderlinked assistance partners. The website of […]
‘Fit & Mobile 77+’: sport training programme for retirement home residents in Austria
‘Fit & Mobile 77’ is a specific physical training programme to improve older people’s endurance and balance, set up by the retirement home group SeneCura in Vienna, Austria. The programme is one of the winners of the ORPEA Excellence Awards celebrated in Paris in January 2017. Implemented in 15 retirement homes in Austria, this programme […]
Sport prescribed to frail seniors in Strasbourg, France
The French city of Strasbourg offers sport classes to frail older persons as part of a sport & health prescription programme set up by the municipality in 2012. Doctors can prescribe sport lessons adapted to the patients’ conditions in order to prevent falls and loss of autonomy. A dedicated sport-health team will then advise the […]
Activ84Health promotes entertaining indoor cycling in Belgian nursing homes
“Activ84Health” is a virtual simulation system aimed at promoting indoor physical exercises while stimulating memories. It allows the user to virtually explore towns and the countryside while cycling on a stationary bike. You can virtually travel to any place available on Google Street View and also select a predefined route with automatic navigation. Each user […]
