Lined up on chairs in the entertainment room of the accommodation establishment for dependent elderly people (Ehpad) in the small town of Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis (Charente-Maritime), thirty minutes from La Rochelle, around twenty residents stare at the screen on which part of Wii Sport Bowling, a video game where players reproduce the movements of a game of bowling.
Around them, four young people in yellow t-shirts are busy supporting and encouraging them. It’s not easy: you have to constantly re-explain the rules, and sometimes even remember that it’s not a real game of bowling. The activity, however, has its effect; each successful throw elicits enthusiastic exclamations and applause from the elders.
The young people who came this afternoon in June are volunteers from the senior civic solidarity service (SC2S), a system launched in 2021 by the State to break the isolation of the elderly. For a period of six to twelve months, SC2S participants are compensated up to 600 euros per month by the State and by a partner association. In total, since 2021, 10,000 young people aged 18 to 25 have accompanied seniors at home, on the phone or in nursing homes.
Blandine, Louka, Toinon and Léanne, aged 17 to 19, have been crisscrossing the Charente-Maritime nursing homes for eight months to “introduce seniors to technology”. In fact, they mainly played virtual bowling – all excuses are good to get residents out of their rooms a little.
Difficult working conditions
Louka Domenec, 19, is squatting next to Maurice Bayonne, 87, who is seated in the front row. Very gently, he manipulates his age-stiffened arm to help him understand the maneuver. The shot is not a success, but Maurice still sketches a broad smile of satisfaction. “The first time I came home I felt like it was all zombiesadmits Louka. But the more you go there, the more you get to know the personality of the residents. Now it makes me proud every time I make them smile.”says the one who joined the SC2S after dropping a BUT (university bachelor of technology) in mechanical engineering.
The host of the Saint-Sauveur-d’Aunis nursing home, Véronique Pladys, keeps an eye on the young volunteers. “Help is really welcome, we can never give residents too much attention”she testifies.
If the experience of Louka and his colleagues has gone off without a hitch so far, this is not the case for all those who do their civic service with the elderly. Some testify to difficult working conditions, in particular when their arrival fills a shortage of personnel.
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