WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION - EUROPE
Community solidarity for the elderly in Udine
With one quarter of the population above the age of 65, the Italian city of Udine relies heavily on the work of volunteers when it comes to caring for its older citizens. Most of the volunteers are themselves retired.
Volunteers distribute food door to door to people who are unable to cook for themselves and on the busiest days each volunteer delivers ‘meals on wheels’ to 20 homes.
There are more than a thousand volunteers in Udine, organised in different associations. The majority of them are retired women who deliver ‘meals on wheels’, make small repairs around the house, accompany someone to the doctor or dentist, and arrange social and physical activities for people in need.
Volunteering and solidarity are well rooted in the area. For example, Friuli Venezia Giulia is one of the areas in the world with the highest percentage of young people who donate blood.
However, the more the population ages, the fewer individuals there are to provide support for others.
One of the largest volunteer services in Udine is the helpline “No alla solit’Udine” (‘No to loneliness’), which is open to needy older citizens for four hours every morning. Three telephone operators are employed by the municipality to answer their calls, and decide what kind of help they need. One thousand volunteers from 30 organisations offer a variety of services, from delivery of groceries to counselling, taking someone to the hairdresser or reading a book aloud.
There are no standard services, each case is evaluated individually, and if the operators assess that the volunteers cannot deal with the problem, they forward the case to a doctor or social worker.
Another association is “Il Salotto d’Argento” (‘The Silver Sitting-Room’) which organises a range of activities for self-sufficient older people.
7 Read the text, then answer the questions.
1. What percentage of people are over 65 in Udine?
2. What is the average age of most volunteers?
3. Are there more male or female volunteers in Udine?
4. What is said about young people?
5. What three services are mentioned in the text?
6. What kind of service is Meals on Wheels?
7. What is ‘No alla solit’Udine’? What kind of service do they provide?
8. What is ‘The Silver Sitting-Room’? Who benefits from their services?
GLOSSARY
to assess : valutare
counselling : assistenza
groceries : la spesa
municipality : amministrazione comunale
needy : bisognoso
to rely on : fare affidamento su
range : gamma, serie
rooted : radicato
self-sufficient : autosufficiente