Corona causes further distress to the elderly

An opinion piece by our chairman has been placed in the Saturday edition of Utrecht's AD! ? Read the article below (Source: AD).

By Stijn Rombouts

hese month we mark 75 years of freedom. Freedom today has a different meaning. Being free from an oppressor has been replaced by being free to develop yourself: the freedom to find your way to a fine and happy life. There is no place where I have felt this freedom more strongly than in Utrecht, where I came to study. Supported by technological advances, I have more opportunities than any generation before me. On my laptop, I have a music studio at my disposal that would have been the envy of The Beatles, and my phone contains a more powerful computer than the first lunar lander. I have technology at my disposal that allows my voice to be heard. Technology that brings me happiness because I can stay in touch with my friends and family in times of corona.

New television

It is precisely this freedom that cannot be taken for granted by everyone in Utrecht. I work in home care, mainly in Kanaleneiland, and precisely at the time of corona, I see the suffering of the elderly in a rapidly changing society. Every Monday I work with a regular client who likes to watch cooking programmes. The new TV she has holds many secrets for her. I decided to call her provider. The menu I encountered was like a wall for elderly people like my client. The option to speak to a staff member was well hidden. After all, an easily approachable customer service centre is expensive to maintain. Helping her well yields little and the chances of her leaving are zero. My client prefers not to replace her subscription anymore; switching providers seems too much of a hassle for her.

In a world full of possibilities, you are only free if you can actually choose. The choice not to change. The choice not to know how to set up a cooking channel on your smart TV. The choice not to even buy a smart TV. Those choices are actually no longer supported by society. Those choices are like an outdated software package for which new add-ons are no longer coming out because those add-ons are no longer cost-effective. The accessibility of help is not just a problem with luxury items like a cooking channel. Another client said he had called his GP's emergency number because he could not get a staff member on the line. Where outside corona time a neighbour can help, now that helping hand often remains safely at a distance.

Support

Meanwhile, the lift to my flat does hang full of notes from people offering help. The warm heart of our city is very visible right now, but we need structural solutions. When we want to remove technological barriers for the elderly, we often look for the solution in courses. However, some of the elderly have not asked for technological changes. The Utrecht approach could also include technological support at neighbourhood level. I see an opportunity for home care workers like myself to play a signalling role in this.

Corona now partly brings to light how our society pinches for the elderly, but also offers opportunities. It is important that we use this drastic situation to organise our society in such a way that we can all enjoy the freedom, the possibilities, the opportunities. But only if we feel like it ourselves. That is real freedom.