Reconnecting the Elderly

ianro99712

Hi all,

My name is Ian and what I want to do is create the possibility of reconnecting the Elderly communities.

There is an epidemic of loneliness sweeping across the elderly communities that is detrimental to their physical and metal health.

If we do nothing technology will continue to double and isolation will continue escalate, creating fear illness and removal of purpose.

if we act now then people will be able to connect and live their lives with purpose knowing that they belong, with happiness, love and peace.

The reason I am posting is to see if as a community we can work together to find ways in which we can give them access to what they need, enable access to data and tools to communicate with our generations. I’d love to know your thought on what we could make possible.

Regards,
Ian

mcilwraith

ianro99712 i am elderly but not lonely and can manage fine without help 😄

allan1954

ianro99712 welcome to giffgaff Ian what age group are you thinking of.

pinks29

ianro99712
I am doing that now, helping as, many people as I can, sometimes it's younger people who also get lonely too.

endorphin

ianro99712 perhaps rather than giffgaff providing this help directly they should support an organisation which already provides this help through this existing giffgaff programme https://giffgaff.com/community-projects/

frenchielove

ianro99712 it is a lovely idea, my dad is 92 years old and I make sure to call him on the landline three times a day and visit him whenever we can, my sister the same and the grandchildren, but there are people in his street that never come outside the door, I cannot imagine how isolated they must feel and frightened. Years ago, neighbours looked in on each other, did errands etc. Nowadays people are terrified of strangers 😞

shabbas

ianro99712
Idea is very good and once implemented i think its going to work well, but we need the help of all our gaffers for their wonderful ideas as this is going to be for us and only we know what is gna be better for us.
I personally don't fall into the elderly category just yet😃😄 but i would love to contribute once were rolling
Good luck

tess_yvonne

ianro99712 my boyfriend and i used to do this mans garden and over the months we saw no one come so we got talking to him and he had no family or friends so we became friends did his shopping took him places then he got poorly and taken to hosiptal then had carers but we still went everyday and he died happy and im glad i got to know him.
I would love to help other people like him

davidvarley

ianro99712
We need to make new technology that is extremely easy to learn and understand that way elderly will be able to choose the modern technology that's easy to operate instead of difficult with mobiles and other similar things like basic easy to operate computers to so elderly can keep in touch with family and friends.

bazthebear2

ianro99712 Very good idea.

riajoy

ianro99712 Hi Ian, thanks so much for posting. You're raising a very good topic of discussion and one which i'm also passionate about. How do you think we can work together to make a difference?

sarahbanahnah

ianro99712 Excellent concept!

keithctaylor

ianro99712 this is a timely topic for me as I start volunteering tomorrow to help over 55s with technology. So where I get specific ideas from that group I will share them here.

One issue that strikes me now is the lack of preparation for people approaching retirement. Obviously that only applies to people in work. But the numbers are significant. So I think employers should do more to help their older workers plan and improve social life.

jpwrr17

ianro99712 that is a really nice gesture hope more elderly get to use giffgaff as it does help to know there is someone to talk to make your life more happier and fuller.

stephenpperry

ianro99712 the coop have been looking into loneliness. I recently came across The idea of home sharing which seems like it should be more popular! https://homeshareuk.org/

antiochean

ianro99712 I agree and the lockdown has really impacted this. As a church we have found a lot of older people are really struggling.

ianro99712

mcilwraith That’s great to hear, wouldn’t it be a better world if this was so and everyone could make this statement. ✌️

123kingarthur

mcilwraith I do agree I like being independent

ray2

Hi Ian love the idea,maybe a tag for those who are not very techie (this could cover not just the elderly but everyone that struggles with technology) which explains in basic terms about the use of the internet,some links to charities or groups that help E.G the elderly with group activities around the country,not being alone over the christmas period.

Another suggestion is maybe members (if they want to) checking in on their elderly/disabled neighbours,maybe going further and inviting them for dinner and with their permission sharing their stories on here.Maybe a december helping hand tag or one for all year??

These are just thoughts off the top of my head 😄

ianro99712

ray2 What a great idea, thanks Ray. What would we need to put in action to make this happen?

Thank you

mcilwraith

ray2 its funny, i visit a friend who cant get around a lot once a week.mates will say "Hows old Rab doing" he is a few years younger than me
but it comes to us all so anything that might help is surely a good thing
nice thoughts ianro99712

ianro99712

allan1954 Hi, I was thinking of the upper quartile who may not have internet and live in services accommodation, it may not be age that is the variable.

My first thoughts we wouldn’t it be great if there were 1,000,000 video calls made between people who previously had no access and there family or communities.

ray2

ianro99712

ianro99712 What a great idea, thanks Ray. What would we need to put in action to make this happen?

Hi Ian,i think first thing is to put it to the giffgaff staff to see if any of our suggestions can be put into place or a tag can be created, maybe asking @amy_b_d , @dez_d .

Also thinking what we can put in the tag?

What would help most for members who do feel isolated?

allan1954

ianro99712 upper quartile

whats this what age group.

ianro99712

allan1954 research suggests seniors 65+ are most vulnerable to social isolation. Though maybe some charities have better information than I on where most impact could be had as I assume demographics is a rare limiter to access.

Do you have thoughts on where we could get more data and maybe establish a clearer target?

ianro99712

mcilwraith imagine Rab and his friends if they were to reconnect and the feelings that would create, that would be awesome.

allan1954

ianro99712 sorry I can't think of anything I could add.

ianro99712

pinks29 this is excellent, I understand that there are more communities. I wonder if there a project or idea that we can all contribute to and make a big wave through all communities through technology

johnrooney80

Brill idea, inclusion not Seclusion@ianro99712#35316472
Maybe have a drop in Thread, if having issues, or feelings of downness.
Older folks can be isolated, as I'm only 39 and isolated myself. Luckily, internet savvy so not technically' cut off' but without my cats and Linda I'd likely be lonely.. luckily I can stand my own company.. hope this helps some folks when implemented, well done.. How to guides, vid links maybe would help too?

ianro99712

johnrooney80 anything we can set in action, even the possibility and this post is an opening in the community, thank you for sharing johnrooney80.

The milestone in my head is to have 1,000,000 video calls that would not have happened, I’m truly open to how we create the possibilities though can’t do it alone, I’m here looking for support to take action and transformation for communities.

jaymailsays

endorphin they should support an organisation which already provides this help through this existing giffgaff programme

Whilst giffgaff support for these local community projects is worthy and adds enviable financial help to those chosen, the neighbourhood reach is tiny and helping a million elderly or lonely people using that route would be unlikely to succeed.

However

ianro99712 The milestone in my head is to have 1,000,000 video calls

I wonder whether video calls are actually needed and are the people you are targeting comfortable with that medium?

A quick google tells me that Esther Rantzen has started tackling the loneliness issue by using 0800 freecall from any network, for the million plus users of Silver Line

"Less than 3 years since our national launch, the Silver Line Helpline has received its one millionth call."

The Charity requires significant funding each year and will probably need around £1.75m next year to continue supporting their users around the clock.

jesi23

ianro99712 The milestone in my head is to have 1,000,000 video calls that would not have happened

jaymailsays I wonder whether video calls are actually needed and are the people you are targeting comfortable with that medium

I fall into that age group (although I usually state my age as ‘23-with-45-years-experience’ rather than ‘68’) and I personally am not comfortable with video calls … I am a ‘Great Aunt Velma technophobe’ type (you would need to be familiar with the old ‘Approved Helper’ quizzes to understand that reference?) and won’t even do FaceTime with my son.

My giffgaff SIM is in my iPad Air Cellular which I won in 2014 from the Nielsen’s Homescan Monthly Prize Draw for members. I have been an active Community Member here since the end of September 2014.

What is your motivation in thinking of video calls in particular? @ianro99712

🤡

ianro99712

Maybe we can share ideas via this format as a question, all beginning with What if:

What If, we distributed data enabled SIM cards and routers to the most vulnerable?

ianro99712

ray2 connection | belonging | love are powerful words that come to mind. I’m not familiar with tags is there a resource I could read?

amy_b_d

ray2

Morning everyone, Thanks for tagging me into this thread. 🙂 At giffgaff some staff already get involved in reconnecting with the elderly and I believe we're doing something again on the 12th December. As it's an initiative set up by our internal ministry of good deeds, I will ping this thread to her and see what more we can do to help. 🙂

ianro99712

ray2 Hi Ray, just coming back to this as I’m not sure how to work the tag and also would be nice to open up your question to the wider community.

ianro99712

allan1954 no need to be sorry, you voice and sharing is a contribution. Thank you

ianro99712

endorphin I’m not familiar yet with all the community projects though that sounds like a great idea 💡.

techiebloke

riajoy
@ianro99712

Maybe there could be a fund that members could opt in to donate to when they top up or buy a goodybag that could be used by giffgaff to fund free/heavily subsidised use/hardware for those identified as requiring assistance by a charity?

I for one would happily chip in 2-3 quid when I topped up.

Just a thought.