Interview with Varvara Tertychna, CEO of our foundation. You can read the original here.
I have been helping elderly people since 2016, when I joined the “Starenki” project as a food delivery coordinator. Then I had a few free hours during the day and I wanted to spend them with benefit for someone. Elderly people in our country are in difficult life circumstances for various reasons. Many have low pensions, their savings were burned during the collapse of the USSR, their health is not good, and medicine is expensive. And if there are no children and grandchildren, then there is no one to ask for help.
Why is it important to help the elderly, and not only during quarantine?
Elderly people and their needs are ignored, they are socially isolated. Recently, we at the foundation discussed quarantine and realized that many of our wards who do not go outside are actually in permanent quarantine! They always sit at home and do not communicate with anyone except their social worker and sometimes a neighbor. But there are many people living in the house who could come in for tea once a month.
It is also important to help because it is difficult for elderly people to live on 2-3 thousand hryvnias per month. Especially if they are sick, and you still need to pay the utility bill. Because of this, many people end up with an empty refrigerator.
What do elderly people usually need?
Elderly people have not bought new things for decades and often need new appliances or repair of old ones, because living without a refrigerator is quite difficult. They also often have old bed linen and towels. There may not be comfortable shoes.
However, the material aspect is not always the most important. Elderly people are more happy to communicate and hear news from the lives of those young people who come to visit them. Grannies always share their memories and show photos from their youth. Therefore, attention and support to the elderly, especially those who are alone or with reduced mobility, is very necessary. Today, sitting at home in quarantine, we all feel only a very small part of the social isolation in which a large part of the elderly find themselves. Imagine that you have no Internet, the TV is broken, you have a phone, but there is no one to call.
Where to look for elderly people who need help?
Usually, elderly people who need help can be seen in the store – they stand at the cash register with an almost empty basket containing bread, a packet of cereal and a few apples. Or at the pharmacy, they ask how much their medicine costs and walk away. You can pay for their purchases and additionally buy what they need.
In addition, you can join one of the organizations that help elderly people in difficult life circumstances. Or try to help elderly neighbors, offer to go to the store or pharmacy. At first, they may not be very friendly, because they are not used to the attention, but it is still worth a try.