Humanitas Residential Care Centre gives free accommodation to students in exchange for 30 hours of voluntary work in the home every week.
A nursing home in the Netherlands is offering university students rent-free accommodation in return for their daily interaction with their elderly co-inhabitants. Alongside their residents, Humanitas Residential and Care Centre in Deventer, Holland provides free accommodation to six students, in exchange for 30 hours of voluntary work in the home every week.
In 2012 the Dutch government withdrew funding for the continuous care of over-80-year-olds who were deemed not to be in desperate need. This meant that a number of elderly citizens who had previously been able to stay for free at homes such as Humanitas were left struggling to find funds. This, in turn, led to a drop off in the number of people seeking long-term care, and Humanitas was forced to find new ways to fill beds and reinject some much needed energy, vitality and new skills into the home. The answer was students.
The arrangement is mutually beneficial. Money-poor young people who are struggling to afford increasing student rents benefit from the free accommodation, while elderly residents benefit from the extra company.
Isolation and loneliness have been linked to mental decline and increased mortality, and while most care homes encourage visiting volunteers, the arrangement at Humanitas has a much more significant effect on those living there, since they are able to forge meaningful relationships with young people. As CEO Gea Sijpkes says, ‘The students bring the outside world in; there is lots of warmth in the contact.’
Students earn their keep by spending time with the elderly residents and teaching them skills such as how to email and use social media, as well as assisting staff. It’s even been known for the students to teach the elderly citizens beer-pong and how to create a bit of graffiti, which, as with LATA 65, could well be set to be the new knitting. They also help keep conversations fresh, reporting back from their days at university to their elderly co-residents, some of whom are rarely able to get out. It’s not uncommon for conversations about sex to take place over a jigsaw puzzle. Rather than discussing aches and pains, elderly residents can feed off the energy these students bring in, which engenders a sense of fun and vitality.
Humanitas is not the only care home to adopt the intergenerational model, but it is the first to offer rent-free accommodation to the students. Since Humanitas opened its doors to students, two more nursing homes in the Netherlands have now followed suit, and a similar programme has been set up in Lyons, France. We have also seen other companies using students as a resource for caring for the elderly. Lift Hero, for example, was an ‘Uber for the elderly’, offering transport with friendly care. The peer-to-peer lift service used trained or studying medical professionals to drive the elderly safely to their destination.
The Humanitas initiative is a true win–win, with staff, elderly residents and students all benefiting. And, of course, it’s not just free lodgings that the students get to enjoy. While educating their neighbours on the virtues of thrash metal, they’re sure to pick up some life lessons coming the other way, from those who have seen it all before.
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Website: www.humanitasdeventer.nl
Contact: www.humanitasdeventer.nl/contact
Company name: Humanitas Residential Care Centre, Deventer
Country: The Netherlands
Industries: Health & wellbeing / Home & garden / Non-profit & social cause