Project – “Seniors cuddle little ones”

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Status: Ongoing

Evaluated

City of Poznan

Print this page City population: 52941028,1% over 60Practice started in 2019

Summary

The project “Seniors cuddle little ones” is focused on helping parents and hospital employees in taking care of new-born  children during their longer than usual stay in the neonatal Hospital Unit right after birth.

Parents who cannot provide personal care for babies in hospital for various reasons can count on help from a 60+ volunteer. These volunteers spend time with babies providing them with the much needed physical contact. Being close to other people is an extremely important issue, especially for newborns. Hugging, and cuddling babies helps to fill their developments needs. Cuddling fragile babies can even improve their health. The main goal of the project is to combine the needs of babies, parents and older adults

The project, initiated on behalf of the City, was implemented in 2019 by the NGO – Polish Society for Palliative Care – Poznań, and currently is fully supervised by the Neonatal Ward of the Poznań City Hospital – Fr. Raszeja Hospital.

The project was inspired by a similar project implemented in the American hospitals in Atlanta.

Potential volunteers need to undergo a detailed verification procedure together with a hospital coordinator and psychologist. These volunteers need to fill many requirements  including a medical examination and various training sessions in order to be able to work with the newborns.

Volunteers’ interest in the project was huge – Thousands of people reacted on the  facebook project news – Dozens of people (young as well) applied to participate in the project sending their applications from all over Poland.

Finally, a group of 18 volunteers (only adults 60 plus – one man, seventeen women ) were selected and verified. Currently volunteers work everyday.

Youtube Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IedQ7seSbYw

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):