In this period of epidemic, our senior citizens are particularly affected. Not only are they the first victims of covid 19, but the confinement accentuates the feeling of loneliness and isolation.

Our raison d'être: "On Seniors' Side" takes on its full meaning in this context.

We have offered our employees the opportunity to contact our customers who are over 75 years old. The primary objective is to create social bonds. The idea is to offer them an exchange of up to 20 minutes to check up on them, so that they feel less alone and know that we are thinking about them.

OUR APPROACH

As we are not professionals in helping people and to guide our collaborators in their exchanges, we have prepared a small guide written in close collaboration with an association specialized in listening to seniors: ALMA (Association against the Abuse of People over 65 and Disabled Adults). The project was supported by one of the members of the Foundation's Board of Directors: Anne-Marie Durocher, geriatrician and president of ALMA.

To ensure that the system is optimal, we tested it beforehand with the help of 15 volunteers.

A call for volunteers was launched and our collaborators from Damart, DSB and Afibel were present. They made themselves available to listen to our clients: empathy, benevolent neutrality and consideration were the key words.

Finally, it is with pride that we made close to 400 calls thanks to nearly 120 volunteers! So thank you all for your commitment.

The clients appreciated the approach, as evidenced by these few verbatim comments: "Thank you for your call and for this solidarity which touches me", "A mail order company which takes the trouble to call its clients to ask for news, I find that very good", "seemed very touched and thanked for the approach".

and our employees were able to live an unprecedented experience of solidarity:

 

Sandrine

"My first call was a bit stressful, I was hesitant and insecure. Then I got confident. People were all happy to have someone to talk to. We discussed the garden, the weather and the confinement (common to all of us in the end). This helps them to put things into perspective.

A small parenthesis offered to our customers with a return always gratifying. »

 

Malika 

"I had Nicole this morning and she was very happy with the call, she lives alone with her cat. She told me about her life and her little daily worries. We stayed almost 15 minutes on the phone.

It was very touching."

 

THE NEXT?

Continue to contact the seniors to maintain the social link and bring comfort to as many people as possible.

Imagine other initiatives whose objective would be to weave a link, initiate a real relationship and keep a record of it in the form of a collection of testimonies.

We will keep you informed!