Josephine, can you tell us briefly about your solidarity appeal initiative?
Very quickly when we learned in mid-March about the confinement of our seniors, we wanted to mitigate its effects and provide benevolence from a distance.
The most appropriate means of action seemed to us to be telephone contact. Barrier gestures make it possible to limit the spread of the virus, with this gesture of benevolence we wish to amplify the spread of solidarity. We therefore propose to all volunteer employees to contact our customers over 75 years old by telephone in order to create social links.
How did you set it up?
We started from the premise that, in this period of epidemic, our seniors are particularly affected. Not only are they the first victims of VIDOC 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 therefore prepared a small guide written in close collaboration with Anne-Marie Durocher, member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation and president of the association specialized in listening to seniors: ALMA (association against the mistreatment of people over 65 years old and handicapped adults).
The purpose of this guide is to train in the listening posture, to give some tools regarding confidentiality, attitudes, questioning and rephrasing techniques and how to start and end the call.
After a test carried out with about fifteen volunteers, we proposed to all of our employees to contact our clients over 75 years old on a voluntary basis.
What are the primary objectives of this action?
The objective is to create social bonds by proposing an exchange of about twenty minutes maximum, to check up on them, so that they feel less alone and know that we are thinking about them.
What are the results so far?
Nearly 120 Afibel, Damart and DSB employees have mobilized and made nearly 400 calls to our customers: a huge thank you!
Have you had any feedback from clients and volunteers?
The majority of our clients appreciate this approach: "Finally I realized that I needed to talk, thank you for what you do. »
Our primary goal of bringing benevolence at a distance has been achieved, but we have also discovered a huge momentum of solidarity internally with more and more volunteers who receive in return a lot of recognition from our clients and testify :
"an enriching experience" - "it's very touching" - "one is rewarded by these warm exchanges" - "with always a return a rewarding return"