‘How are you?’ Visitors greet eachother at a new location for senior activities in Waalre. This time at football association RKVV Waalre, or – as it is aptly called ‘Neffe the field’- (Beside the Pitch). Participants, volunteers and the municipality agree that these kinds of initiatives are of great value.
“This means that our programme more or less covers the entire week” says alderperson Kees Vortman. ” People can choose where they feel most at home. The same activities are offered at all three locations. It varies from crafts and crocheting and knitting to musing together about the past and playing rummikub.”
Charge the battery
The football club’s sports park also invites you to be active outside. “Wonderful,” says Vortman. “The elderly here can charge their batteries, but the informal carer at home – who has a few hours to himself – also benefits from it.”
“The step that the municipality of Waalre wants to take is that it does not only intervene if an elderly resident can no longer live independently, but that it is already monitored at the front whether someone needs extra care. The reactive process is not only expensive, but also not always pleasant for those involved.”
Volunteers
There is room for twelve participants at each location, says Daan van der Vleuten of Goedvoormekaar Waalre. “We are an online platform where people can find and help each other. For this project we have two groups of volunteers who are active for one or more days and we work together with professionals from October.”
Ineke Kox-Jansen is a daytime employee at this organisation of healthcare professionals, which is committed to vulnerable elderly people in the Kempen, Veldhoven and Waalre regions. “We’re not going to play football here, haha, but everything else is possible. We play games, crafts, crafts and rummy cubes. And recently we read about Waalre in earlier times.”
Pleasant
One of the participants is Annemieke (65). Originally from Geldrop, she has been living in Waalre for several years now. “I had a cerebral hemorrhage. As a result, I can no longer do everything. And I was at home a lot. Alone. With this activity I am back among other people and that is very nice.”
Annemieke would prefer to participate several times a week, but financially she is not very well off. “It costs twelve euros a day (including lunch and drinks, etc.) And that is a bit difficult. In any case, it is great fun and I have already invited a few more people.”
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Lila Mehrez
