Veiller Sur Mes Parents (Watch Over My Parents) is an innovative program in France that uses mail carriers to keep an eye on older adults as well as providing friendship to those who live alone. Here’s how they do it:
“Every day except Sunday, postal workers inform the program’s subscribers, through an app, if their elderly relatives are “well”: if they require assistance with groceries, home repairs, outings, or “other needs.”
The program was created by accident in 2013 during a deadly heat wave. Postal workers were asked to check up on older adults who were living alone. The programs’s success led to the creation of Veiller Sur Mes Parents.
With the aging of the world’s population, innovation wrapped in curiosity is in order. We need exploration of new ways to protect, support and intercede on behalf of older adults. No one really knows what’s going to work. All we know is that the more innovative channels of community we open up for older adults, the better off all of us will be…