Contact points for the elderly

Since mid-2013, the nationwide “Anlaufstellen für ältere Menschen” programme has been funding more than 300 individual projects that support independent living in old age. The aim is to offer the elderly need-oriented, made-to-measure assistance that enables them to stay in their accustomed residential environment up to a great age. The projects encompass offers of support, care and encounters, building measures for age-appropriate structuring of the residential environment, and initiatives for qualifying and networking voluntary helpers.

In a society where family and friends often no longer live nearby, other support and network structures in the direct vicinity are important for people of all age groups. Based on the model of “caring communities”, the aim is to create the most ubiquitous possible network of professionally and voluntarily organised help that offers elderly people assistance in coping with daily life, supports their mobility, strengthens their social contacts in the neighbourhood and the direct residential environment, and includes them in social activities.