College Students Can Live In This Dutch Nursing Home For Free — As Long As They Hang Out With The Elderly Residents
Intergenerational relationships are beneficial for everyone involved.
Ground Picture | Shutterstock The global economy is pretty shaky right now, making it difficult for young people to find their footing and enter into adulthood. To make matters worse, a loneliness epidemic has gripped people across the globe, particularly Gen Z and the elderly.
One Dutch nursing home has the perfect solution, and they came up with it over a decade ago. Now, the programs they implemented 12 years ago are inspiring similar programs to take shape elsewhere.
The nursing home allowed college students to live there for free if they spent time with the residents.
The Dutch nursing home located in the small town of Deventer is home to not just the elderly, but the rising generation as well. Reporting for GoodGoodGood.co, Meghan Cook explained that the Woo-en Zorgcentrum Humanitas Deventer gave college students the chance to reside there during their education as long as they devoted 30 hours each month to hanging out with the residents.
WZC Humanitas’ director, Gea Sijpkes, explained how the idea came to her in a statement released by the nursing home. “It started with the idea of becoming the warmest home for seniors in Deventer,” Sijpkes said. “And we wanted to do that with the energy of the youth. At the same time, there was a shortage of student housing, which meant that more and more young people were staying at home. I then thought: why don’t I combine the two?”
The statement continued, assuring readers that “the students of WZC Humanitas are not caregivers, but good neighbors.” There are really no rules about how they spend their 30 hours with the residents. Sometimes they help with technological issues, and sometimes they just have a conversation.
“They bring coziness, a listening ear, and connection with the outside world,” the statement said.
Residential student Peter Kolb explained that the small moments with the nursing home residents are just as meaningful. “It doesn’t all have to be grand and exciting,” he said. “If you talk to each other and show interest in each other, that already gives so much meaning.”
WZC Humanitas continues to expand its program and inspire others.
As for the future, WZC Humanitas is currently working on a new idea based on the concept of college students living with the elderly. They are calling it “Woonstudent 2.0.” The statement described it as “a concept in which students live independently in rooms with single elderly people. As a matchmaker, WZC Humanitas brings together suitable candidates after a careful inventory of mutual expectations and needs.”
Jsme MILA | Pexels
WZC Humanitas is also inspiring programs in other places. A group of Augustinian sisters from the Dutch city of Utrecht visited the nursing home in March 2023. Just under a year later, they invited three young women, each with a medical education, to move into their monastery. “The initiative has proven to be a great success,” the statement read.
Intergenerational relationships like these have many benefits.
Typically, when making friends, we limit ourselves to those close in age to us. Yet, research shows that expanding to allow people of different ages into your inner circle has advantages.
According to Maureen Salamon, the executive editor of "Harvard Women's Health Watch," intergenerational friendships "deliver a stimulating balance of experiences, attitudes, and approaches and produce intriguing health benefits." For one, they help people's self-perception and relationship with aging, which has several health advantages, including living longer.
Programs like the one WZC Humanitas created help such relationships flourish and are an essential part of social welfare. We should all be searching for more opportunities for intergenerational connections.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.
