Today, I pledge myself to start developing out my idea for an eldering service that connects with folks living in a "senior lifestyle residence" at least once a week for an onsite meal.
The reason isn't to provided company for the older or even to check on how s/he is doing - it's to let everyone know that there is an active someone in that person's life. Am amazed at how powerful that can be. Not another care giver - a friendly, purely social friend. Might sound frivolous, but far from it. For a family without a lot of financial resources at hand, it can be a special godsend, since it can provide a big bang for relatively few bucks.
How could sharing as little as one meal a day with someone living in a senior residence be so important & powerful? My guess is that holds true for hospitals - that doctors & nursing staff are less attentive to patients who don't have regular visitors - would hold true for senior residences, too. Am thinking about how much I've learned about a senior residence just by sharing an occasional lunch & supper with clients, getting to know their friends, seeing how things seem to interact. My few weekly meals with a client is fun & revealing.
It would make a wonderful business, one that's fairly low cost for the family - the price of an in-residence meal & one or two hours, max - but could provide a steady income boost. Most olders I know would rather go OUT with their loved one for a meal, rather than eat in. Which is why having someone otherwise unconnected with the older strikes me as idea. Am envisioning my dear friend, Janina, making being a meal-time friend into a dandy income-booster - she's youthful, vibrant & lively!
The more I work with clients who live in senior residences, the more important I realize it is for them to have someone who becomes a regular onsite presence, who becomes known by friends & acquaintance, who makes sure the staff & administration knows about her, an easy thing to do by regularly passing along praise or even a constructive comment. Hmmmm.....
My June/July project - flesh out the bare bones of this nifty possibility into a fully-realized business plan!
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