Last time we talked about? Today the topic is completely different: how to help retirees.

Once upon a time, the famous German writer Thomas Mann said that old age should in no way become a process of decline. However, looking at our retirees, you understand how difficult it is for an elderly person to live in the modern world. But each of us, having shown a minimum of participation, may well brighten up their monotonous everyday life and, as far as possible, improve their living conditions. Perhaps you, by your example, will show people how acute and relevant this problem is.

On the eve of the most family holiday in Moscow, a Great New Year's collection of gifts for nursing homes was announced. Your modest gifts can give these people a holiday:

• bright calendars, always with large print
• personal hygiene items
• head scarves
• warm socks
• slippers (from size 39) are required with a back
• soft sweets (marshmallows, marshmallows, marmalade, bars).

You can make your contribution to this good endeavor on December 18 from 6 pm to 9 pm in 6 Starbucks coffee shops. For more information, you can refer to the site.

You can provide all possible assistance to the capital's pensioners by becoming a volunteer who will visit elderly people in nursing homes, provide targeted assistance or carry on correspondence with lonely pensioners. And believe that any kind wordwhat you say or write to them will brighten up their loneliness. You can find out more about the volunteer movement in Moscow on the website.

How to help the elderly

In this article, you will learn:

Why is it important to help the elderly?

How volunteers help the elderly

How to help an elderly person at home and in a boarding school

How you can help older people through social funds

Usually, everyone thinks about how to help the elderly on the eve of the big All-Russian holidays - Victory Day or New Year. Volunteers, welfare workers, distant and sometimes even close relatives "raid" an elderly person, give gifts and run away again on urgent matters.

And few people think about what is much more expensive than material gifts, attention and sympathy for the elderly. And even for those who are really experiencing financial difficulties. This is especially true for people who are limited by the cramped world of a nursing home or cannot independently leave the apartment and at least go down to the entrance to communicate with their peers. Let's talk about how to help the elderly?

How to help the elderly at home

Very often you can help older people with household chores - cleaning, washing, buying food and medicine, just talking and caring. But at the same time, it is often especially difficult to help the elderly at home. There are many reasons. For example, first you need to find a person who would really need such help. These people do not go out (otherwise they can already be considered independent and do not need support), it is also impossible to get addresses and phone numbers through social services - these structures do not disclose personal data of their wards.

But even if you find someone who needs your assistance, that's half the battle. As soon as you start helping an elderly person, relatives will definitely intervene. And they can be understood - for no reason at all, a stranger suddenly began to walk into the apartment of an elderly relative! And if it's a scammer? Considering that there are quite a few swindlers today, relatives have the right to doubt, agree. Let's say you've managed to convince your family that you really just want to help an elderly person. And you found a lonely old man.

But even this does not guarantee getting rid of the problems. For example, after a volunteer came to an apartment, an elderly person may lose something (or it will seem to him that something is missing). At the same time, the volunteer is absolutely defenseless, he cannot prove his innocence.

When helping an elderly person at home, you need to be prepared for another emergency situation - a person may suddenly become ill, and the volunteer should be ready to take immediate action.

Many people may get the impression that it is generally impossible to help an elderly person at home. This is not so, you just need to establish contact with social protection services, relatives, formalize your relationship with the ward with a special agreement, and even easier - contact a large volunteer organization, which has already worked out a mechanism for helping the elderly.

Helping Seniors in Government Nursing Homes

Today in Russia there are more than 2,000 thousand nursing homes, in which more than ten thousand old people live permanently. How does a person get into a nursing home? Everyone has different circumstances. Someone in his declining years was left completely alone, without relatives, and cannot take care of himself. Others have living relatives, but they do not want to support and care for the old man. In the third, the children have left for the country and have forgotten about the elderly parent. The purpose of our article is not to condemn people who abandoned their old people, but to find out how to help the elderly, including in nursing homes. Therefore, let's not talk about the reasons, let's talk about the consequences.

In a nursing home, an elderly person is cut off from the outside world. Someone does not want to go beyond the limits of their little world, and someone cannot do this. The whole life of older people in this case is limited to joint breakfasts, lunches, dinners, simple entertainments like watching TV and listening to the radio. In general, an elderly person who finds himself in a nursing home seems to cease to exist for the outside world. It is especially difficult in such a situation for bedridden patients - they do not even have the opportunity to go out into the courtyard and breathe fresh air.

In nursing homes, many find it difficult even to engage in hobbies - knitting, embroidery, sawing, etc. And not because it is prohibited. It's just that three-quarters of the pension goes to the nursing home itself to support the patient, and the remaining quarter - for little tasty treats or for the staff in general - for going to the store, for example, or extra cleaning in the ward. So the "guests" are in dire need of our help. How to help the elderly in nursing homes?

• Attention, care and respect, creative employment.

Finding themselves in unfamiliar conditions, elderly people often react to a change in the familiar environment with apathy, complete indifference to themselves and everything that surrounds them. This apathy can - and often does - lead to so-called “loss of identity”. As a result, nursing home patients lose their own opinions, are ready to do “whatever they say,” begin to put up with the rudeness of the staff, bad material support, bad food, etc.

The same thing happens with the staff. Taking care of dozens of patients every day as part of their professional duties, they cease to respect them and even "distinguish" between them. All merge into a solid mass, which is even physically unrealistic to serve, not to pay attention to the needs, needs and wishes of each patient, to the lack of live human communication and attention.

Why is it important to help older people in nursing homes? Together with the “loss of personality”, a person completely loses motivation for life. Older people withdraw into themselves, withdrawn, stop feeling like individuals who deserve respect. Helping elderly people in this case means returning them the joy of communication, making them feel needed and useful again.

How exactly can older people be helped in nursing homes? It's actually quite simple. You need to give them to show their skills, talents, make them think, if possible - to do something. Various simple creative tasks are well suited for this. For example, the “Old Age in Joy” Foundation invites culture organizers and art therapists to the elderly. At first, the elderly people, who have fallen into apathy, internally resist the pursuit of creativity, but then the process is extremely fascinating to them. They are impatiently awaiting the continuation of their studies, beginning to present their works to the public.

Is there a way to help older people living outside a nursing home in the same way? Of course you can. For those living on their own, charities also provide creative and intellectual pursuits.

• Help with your hands.

Helping elderly people in nursing homes is possible not only with attention, but also corny - with your hands. Nursing homes are often a rather sad sight. Not only does the whole furnishings speak about the state of the house, but also cosmetic repairs have been made far from every nursing home. Therefore, the elderly also need help with the household - repairs, cutting the grass in the yard, repairs in the wards, etc.

How to personally help older people

1. You can help the elderly on a regular basis, not just occasionally. If you are ready, there are some simple ways to help older people.

You can visit the elderly on your own or by joining a volunteer trip. Volunteers usually organize concerts for their wards, think about whether you should take part too? Sing something, read poetry, play a scene, etc. A concert plus sweet gifts - and now the grandparents are smiling, their spirits have lifted.

It will cost you nothing at all to be a "penpal grandson." Is that the cost of an envelope. Lonely elderly people are happy with any news from the world, they will look forward to your letters and postcards. At the same time, it does not matter at all where you live, because ordinary letters sent by mail connect the most different corners of the globe.

2. You can help older people living on their own and in nursing homes with money. Let's talk about financial assistance.

You can buy basic necessities and take them to nursing homes, or give the package to volunteers. What should you buy?

nursing homes usually need diapers for adults, personal care items, medical equipment;

those who live independently also have their own needs. You need to find out before buying.

You can visit old people in a remote village, buy them a supply of food, chop wood for the winter.

Remember that low-income retirees don't just live in your city. There are especially many of them in the villages where they live out their days, unable to leave. You can collect a food parcel and send it to those in need.

To make your initiative useful and reach the right addressee, look for like-minded people on the Internet. For example, the Tugeza community can offer many options for charitable assistance to the elderly to choose from. In addition to financial support, you can help older people with repairs, cleaning, laundry, etc.

You can regularly follow the ongoing charity events. For example, "Give Firewood" - an action, the purpose of which was to raise funds for old people living in houses with stove heating.

A good way to help the elderly is a corporate clean-up at a nursing home. Its meaning is to maximize short term with the efforts of several dozen people to make cosmetic repairs and equip the territory of a nursing home - to break flower beds, clean paths, put up benches for walking, etc.

3. Patients of a nursing home who can walk, as well as single elderly people living on their own, can be taken to places that are important to them. Usually this is a cemetery - to visit the graves of relatives and friends, a clinic, a church.

4. You can help older people get some services through electronic programshelp to understand the technique.

5. If you don't have time for personal help, you can help older people by making a donation to their benefit. The money will go to pay for care assistants, nannies.

I want to help the elderly. Where to begin?

To get started, you can contact a charitable organization. There are charitable foundations that specialize specifically in helping the elderly - "Old Age in Joy", "Sofia", "Good Deed", "Union of Generations". Many organizations are involved in charity work in several areas, including helping the elderly. ("Tradition", Orthodox Help Service "Mercy",

Today, many pensioners, like no one else, need government support.

The social security authorities provide financial support for such people.

But before you apply for material assistance, you need to make sure that you are on the list of persons who are entitled to appropriate state support.

Material aid concept

The most common option for material assistance is or. There is also one-time financial aid, assistance in the acquisition of items necessary for life (as a rule, equipment, clothing and furniture), as well as the issuance of funds aimed at improving inadequate housing conditions (including the possibility of obtaining an interest-free mortgage).

Material support from social protection is also possible, expressed in kind:

• food products;
• medicines;
• clothes;
• footwear.

State support for pensioners

Military pensioners who have the right to medical services, including to. It is impossible not to mention about a one-time payment of money. pensioners of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the size of which is calculated depending on the length of service in the state structure, the availability of state-level awards and honorary titles.

Conventional unemployed pensioners can count for monthly cash payments by decision of local legislative assemblies and regional dumas. For each region, the size of these payments varies up or down.

The living wage for pensioners in Moscow is 11,505 rubles.

Cash support is provided and working pensioners, as well as older married spouses, if one of them has already reached the age of 70 years or more.

Benefits regarding payment property tax (retirees are completely exempt from this tax), as well as the costs of travel on public transport for retirees are set in the local social protection legislature.

How to get the

Material support for pensioners provided by the following authorities:

In the second case, financial assistance to pensioners is provided only in those situations where its provision is provided for by the social programs of the region.

To apply for a mat. help is needed adhere to the following algorithm:

1. Write a statement to the MFC or the department of social protection with a mention of the method of receiving funds (personal account, post office, cash office of a territorial division);
2. Prepare a list of papers - passport, residence permit, income statement, pension certificate, work book.

At the same time, the application itself for receiving financial assistance, as well as a certificate of income, is submitted in the original, the rest of the documents - in the form of copies. After the application is written and the necessary documents are collected, they must be sent to the social protection center or the MFC in person (find out the addresses and phone numbers in the reference service at the place of residence), by mail or through the Unified portal of municipal services.

Registration procedure

After filing required documents, the territorial authority makes a decision to approve or refuse material assistance to a pensioner (within 1 calendar month from the date of registration of the application in the system, which coincides with the day of submission of documents).

If you receive a postal or telephone notice that you have received financial assistance, contact your local social security agency or the banking organization listed on the application to receive monthly remittances (or receive one-time assistance).

If you received a message with a refusal to pay material assistance, you have the right to contact the MFC or the social security body at your place of residence to find out the reasons for the refusal.

For material assistance for retirees, see the following video: