Innovation: Seniors and Children Together
Innovation: Seniors and Children Together
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Piacenza, Italy
AAI Domains:
Independent, healthy and secure living (care to older children and grandchildren, care to older adults, physical exercise, physical safety)
Participation in society (social connectedness)
An ageing society invariably has larger numbers of older people in need of long-term institutional care in order to meet the various forms of dependency that they have. All European states want to promote higher levels of participation in the labour market and this often means that the provision of nursery and child care facilities is necessary in order to enable parents to work. These states of dependency – infancy and childhood and infirmity in old age – have usually been met by separate institutions in different buildings. However, there is scope for creative social innovations that weave generations together rather than keeping them separate and distinct.
In the northern Italian city of Piacenza (population 100,000) the Unicoop, a social welfare organisation, developed an innovative institution in the heart of the city that catered for the needs of young infants, children and older adults in need of nursing care when in 2006 they renovated an existing retirement home. At a cost of €4 million Unicoop transformed a run-down retirement home into a state of the art facility that provided a creche for up to 40 children aged from 3 to 36 months, a day care centre that could cater for the needs of up to 25 children and a nursing home for 54 older people in need of institutional nursing care. With funding from the municipality and the province along with the Vigevano Foundation, Unicoop established an inter-generational project that shared the same physical space and encouraged social interaction between young children and older people through a range of joint activities.
Young and old people shared a range of activities such as painting, drawing, reading, cooking, gardening, sharing meals and even celebrating birthdays together so that both generations could share experiences that traditionally belong to the grandparent-grandchild relationship in the extended family home in a joint institutional setting. Parents reported that children looked forward to seeing the older residents while the nursing home residents felt socially useful in fulfilling the role of surrogate grandparent. This prevented social isolation and loneliness that older people can feel even in an institutional care setting and encouraged them to be as physically active and socially connected as they could be given the physical health limitations that some residents experienced.
These activities are supported by a staff of approximately 40 health workers and educators who underwent additional training through a course developed by the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart to develop inter-generational expertise and skills. The project received a mention in 2010 as part of the ‘Prize Friend of the Family’ awards from the Prime Minister’s Office and has continued to thrive as it provides high quality services at competitive prices that are much in demand.
In relation to active ageing, the Seniors and Children Together project has promoted inter-generational care to children and grandchildren and care for older adults under one roof. It has provided opportunities for physical exercise through the children and older people gardening together and it has provided a safe environment for inter-generational sharing. Most importantly it has built stronger social connections across the generations and fostered a spirit of social entrepreneurialism that is a key part of the Piacenza 2020 strategy.
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