In Middelbeers, residents of two complete streets ensure each other. Annie (66) and Thea (67) started the project. If something unexpected happens with someone, a neighbor can always be called. In this way, neighbors help each other so that the elderly can live at home longer. All residents of the streets were immediately enthusiastic. “The age varies from ten to about ninety,” Annie says at the kitchen table at her.
“We bring a pan of soup when someone is sick,” she continues. “Or we pick up medicines. The next day it is asked how someone is doing.” Attracting the support stockings every day is not the intention. It must be about unexpected things.
With their project from a neighborhood circle, as it is officially called, Annie and Thea are the face of the government campaign ‘Talk about tomorrow’, which started this week. It’s about how you can continue to live and live at home, even when you get older. And what you can do for each other.
The women from Middelbeers came up with the idea for a neighborhood circle after visiting an information evening. It was about thinking about the future. Annie and Thea first wanted to set up an app group, but not all older residents could handle that. That is why it became an old -fashioned call list with numbers from the neighbors.
If someone needs help, calls may be made. Not only in the event of illness, but also to replace a light, for example. “It’s nice if you can call your neighbors, especially if it’s eight o’clock in the evening and your children have to drive a long way to get to you. A neighbor turns a new light in it. And an older resident who can’t do it himself, goes to sleep quietly.”
The neighborhood circle provides much more connection in the streets find Thea. “It gives a safe feeling, especially if you live alone. You can ring the bell and then there will be someone with you within five minutes.”
Annie is in line with that. Her children also live a little further away: “And they all work.” Thanks to a neighborhood circle you also get to know each other better. Because not everyone knows each other well here, even if it is a village. The composition of the residents of the two participating streets has changed over the years. People from outside the village also came to live. “You now invite each other more easily to drink a cup of coffee,” says Annie.
If someone starts asking for help every day, action will be taken. Thea: “Then we will certainly help that person in the beginning, but we also try to familiarize someone a bit. What are the possibilities of being helped by someone else? It is not our intention to really do something for someone every day. Only in times of worries.”
Annie hopes to be able to live at home for a long time with the help. “If possible until my death, but you don’t know if that works. It’s just how it goes.”