Friends for the aged

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33407, 13 December 1973, Page 18

Friends for the aged

'By GLENN HASZARD)

' The breakdown of traditional family patterns in New Zealand has left elderly persons cut off from their relatives and friends. The more mobile and gregarious counter their loss by (joining senior citizen’s clubs, bowling clubs, welfare organisations and fellowship clubs. Others find that transport difficulties or immobility makes these alternative impossible. About 180 elderly persons lin Christchurch have over'come the problem of loneliness by taking part in one •or other of two schemes (which have been started 'recently.

: Friends of the Aged was (started by the Canterbury Aged People’s Welfare Council in October. Already 40 elderly folk have put aside their reticence and sought a “friend.” From the community have come 68 persons, some of them teen-agers, some senior citizens, the majority middleaged. They are the "friends” who give up their time to visit the elderly persons who contact the council. The council’s secretary (Mr G. Mole) says that the scheme had been so successful in its first few months that the council is prepared to organise even more contacts. He asks elderly persons and volunteers to contact the council’s office. Volunteers are matched,

where possible, with elderly persons who have similar interests. They take their companion for a drive or a walk, chat over a cup of tea, read, write letters, do the shopping, telephone them, fetch library books, or take them to visit friends. “Telephone Link,” started by the North Canterbury centre of the Red Cross Society, links elderly people in pairs according to their interests.

According to the centre’s secretary-manager (Mr R. J. Lipscombe) the scheme is working very well, with 70 pairs at present. There are plans to expand it after Christmas if more recruits can be found to help with organisation.