Art of Dying Art of Dying_Volume III_joomag | Page 34
Feature
A Care Home
With A Difference
STORY BY WENDY GLASS • PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF HUMANITAS
REPRODUCED BY PERMISSION OF THE PEOPLE’S FRIEND MAGAZINE • THEPEOPLESFRIEND.CO.UK
150 residents aged between 79 and 104 live at Humanitas
Home for the Elderly in Holland – and six young students.
“The connection between the two generations has made
Humanitas a better place,” says Gea Sijpkes, director of
Humanitas Home for the Elderly, which is in Deventer, east
of Amsterdam.
Gea explains that the six students live at Humanitas rent
free, in exchange for spending 30 hours a month with
their older neighbours. “Thanks to the students who now
live at Humanitas, our elderly residents have more to do,
they can enjoy the company of young people without
having to go anywhere and they have so many things to
34 | ART OF DYING
talk about,” says Gea.
“There are only so many topics of conversation in an elderly
care home but at Humanitas, they love gossiping about
the students and what they get up to, such as whether one
of the boys has a new girlfriend and if she stayed the night!
“As well as a free apartment, the young people who live
at Humanitas learn caring skills, they gain valuable life
skills and they become good neighbours. During their
time with us, we watch these young people become
beautiful adults.”
The first student moved into Humanitas Home for the
Elderly in December 2012, soon after Gea was appointed