Are you passionate about supporting elderly people and people in need of care?
A voluntary service with the elderly and people in need of care very often takes place in old people’s homes. Furthermore, some projects include regular home visits.
Volunteers work alongside trained professionals to ensure that residents are well cared for – both physically and emotionally. Elderly people are usually very grateful when someone takes time for them, and they feel they are not alone.
This work could be physically exhausting, and volunteers sometimes need to get used to having such a close contact to the elderly people. But the clients are very grateful for such support and many volunteers feel that it is a personally rewarding working field.
Evidently when working in this field you should be aware of the fact that you might be confronted with suffering, and with death. But it is also a very rewarding feeling to have supported people in the last phase of their lives and to have given some cheerful days to them.
Possible activities
For you as a volunteer, there are various possibilities to get involved, e.g.:
Leisure time activities
- offering activities for the occupants which make a nice change from the occupants‘ everyday life (handicrafts, games, singing together or day-trips)
- being present, talk with the occupants, listen to them, or go for a walk
Old people’s home
In an old people’s home it can also mean:
- supporting nurses in caring for the occupants (washing the elderly, helping elderly to get dressed, supplying elderly with their meals)
- taking part in and help with physiotherapy and ergo therapy sessions
You can decide which fields of work you would like to get involved in, depending on your own interests and capabilities. Volunteers will not be responsible for administering medicine or treatment.