Intergeneratio's mission is to create social links between generations in nursing homes, care homes and assisted living facilities.

Interview with Camille d'Alançon, Founder of I N T E R G E N E R A T I O

Camille explains that this project was born out of a particular and emotionally rich experience with her grandparents. She became aware of the importance of transmission between the generations and wanted to develop a project that would enable people cut off from this link to experience it in a different way, to build and develop it.

Her desire is to break down the barriers between the spaces normally dedicated to the elderly, so that different generations can live side by side.

As a former director of a nursing home, she was able to see the extent of these divisions, and as she was unable to invest in these links because of her job, she decided to create this project to do just that.

So Camille is taking over. The link between the generations. To do this, she is working in collaboration with the ASBL "Un toit deux âges". 

The project has a number of laudable aims: 
For the residents: to have the opportunity to welcome new people into their lives, to share moments with them, to create lasting social links and to benefit from activities and workshops.

For the staff who usually organise the activities: freeing up time and activities so that they can get back to the essentials of their job (physiotherapist, speech therapist, occupational therapist), because they can delegate the activities to these outside people.

For the home's management: to create an atmosphere of life and openness in their home, to make the transition to the nursing home more friendly and attractive, and to show that their accommodation is genuinely interested in the person and their well-being.

Camille's job is to meet the accommodation providers and offer them appropriate services: 

 

 

• The role that a student can take on: a short training course enables students to come and work in the rest home and run a workshop based on an activity that they particularly enjoy (cooking, art, music, etc.).
• A class of children can come and run a workshop in partnership with the elderly, sharing the pleasure of being together and carrying out a project that will benefit everyone.
• The role that a professional can play in an institution. Nursing homes often have rooms that are not occupied all the time. The aim here is to propose that a professional occupy the room for his or her course with outside people (art, music, gymnastics, etc.) and in return ask this professional to take care of a tailor-made activity for the residents, once or several times a month. 
• Show that the establishment could also make empty rooms available to students and ask them to do something in the institution in return. 

 

We were delighted to meet Camille, because Senior.Life shares the same values and beliefs, i.e. the certainty that developing social links is the key to ageing well. 

We are developing this through our social network for the 50+: www.senior.life. Through the multiplicity of contacts and interactions, we help to keep our cognitive and motor skills in shape. People's immune systems are strengthened because they are happier and surrounded by others, and illnesses are reduced, resulting in overall savings and benefits for everyone.

Thank you to Camille for this innovative and caring initiative for our elderly and we wish her all the best for the future!