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Volunteer elderly care debate
Two
of the nation's largest volunteer organisations, The Danish Association of
Senior Citizens (Ældremobilisering) and the Danish Red Cross, have
sounded their approval of a recent government proposal to integrate
volunteer assistance into Copenhagen Council's home-help programmes. The
Danish Association of Senior Citizens, which boasts a volunteer visitation
programme for 3,000 healthy senior citizens, is positive about the
prospect of a collaboration with council authorities, but draws the line
at volunteer help with cleaning, shopping, and personal care: services
that home-helpers in the public sector presently render. 'It's
not the public's duty to address feelings of loneliness in the elderly.
However, many healthy seniors have a need to enjoy something meaningful
(such as a casual visit from a volunteer), which may help to allay lonely
feelings among the elderly,' said Ivar Nørgaard, director of the Danish
Association of Senior Citizens, in an interview with Berlingske Tidende. Nørgaard
categorically rejected the notion of volunteer groups signing agreements
with council authorities that would contractually require them to provide
a certain amount of elderly care. 'Volunteerism
disappears if the programme is 'councilised.' Under no circumstances will
we take on tasks that the public sector is required to provide through its
health and social-work personnel,' said Nørgaard. 'It
is simply unfair to demand that a public home-helper– in addition to the
fundamental tasks of personal care, shopping, and cleaning– should also
function as a friend to the elderly,' said Poulsen told Berlingske Tidende. Criticism
is rising on the political front in response to Social Minister Henriette
Kjær's plans to pursue an implementation of volunteer and public
home-help services together with Copenhagen Health Mayor Inger Marie
Bruun-Vierø. Former
Social Minister Karen Jespersen, now the social spokesman for the Social
Democratic Party, fears a slippery slope if the public sector dips its
toes into the waters of volunteer services. 'In
a time of swift changes and individualisation, the natural network is
getting weaker. The drive for a tax-stop must not lead to the
privatisation of public duties. It's vital that home-helpers have some
rapport with the elderly...' said Karen Jespersen. Danish
People's Party social spokeswoman Pia Kristensen told news bureau Ritzau
she fears that a council-volunteer programme will make the elderly even
more insecure. Copyright
© 2002 Global Action on Aging
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