A dutch care home experiments with housing students with the old
(一家荷蘭護理院嘗試讓學生和老人同住)
SORES DUMAN is a normal 29-year-old. He goes to the cinema, follows the Champions League attentively, parties occasionally and talks about life and love with his friends. Later in the week he will see an action movie with his mate Piebe. Before that, he may go to McDonald’s with Martey, another chum. It might take more time than usual for his friends to get ready for these activities. Piebe is 79 and Martey a sprightly 94. Does Sores think his weekend plans are odd? “No, I do similar things with friends my own age. I don’t see the difference in age as an obstacle.”
(舍雷什·迪曼（Sores Duman）是個29歲的普通年輕人。他去電影院，是歐冠迷，偶爾參加聚會，和朋友們談論生活和愛情。本週晚些時候，他要和夥伴畢比（Piebe）去看一部動作片。在這之前，他可能會和另一個朋友馬蒂（Martey）一起去麥當勞。他的這兩位夥伴出門要花的時間可能更多些。畢比79歲了；馬蒂94歲，仍然精神矍鑠。迪曼會不會覺得自己的週末安排有些另類呢？“不會，我和我這個年紀的朋友們做的事也差不多。我不覺得年齡差異是個障礙。”)
Mr Duman lives at the Humanitas care home in Deventer, in central Holland. His housemates’ average age is over 85. He has been there for three years, along with five other students from nearby universities and around 150 elderly residents. They are part of a scheme started in 2012 that provides them with free housing in exchange for 30 hours per month of their time living as a “good neighbour”. Only one activity is mandatory: preparing and serving a meal on weekday evenings.
(迪曼住在荷蘭中部代芬特爾（Deventer）的“人文”（Humanitas）護理院裏。他室友的平均年齡超過85歲。迪曼已經在這裏住了三年。與他同住的還有附近大學的其他五名學生，以及約150位護理院裏的老人。他們都是2012年啓動的一項計劃的參與者。該計劃爲年輕人提供免費住宿。作爲交換，他們每月要花30個小時充當老人們的“好鄰居”。只有一項活動是必須的，那就是在工作日爲老人們做頓晚飯並照顧他們用餐。)
Both parties appear to benefit from the programme. Mr Duman estimates that he has saved over €10,000 ($11,200) in rent. He claims that living in a care home has not impinged on his university experience. “We have big parties here,” he says, pointing to a room for hire that sits empty at night. “We host everything from beer-pong tournaments to yoga classes.” In a promotional video, one resident calls the initiative gezellig, a Dutch word that roughly translates as cosy: “Now and then they put me into the walker and race me through the hall,” she explains.
(雙方似乎都因該計劃受益。迪曼估計自己已經省下超過1萬歐元（1.12萬美元）的房租。他說住在護理院裏並沒有妨礙自己的大學生活。“我們在這裏舉辦大型派對。”他指着一個晚上沒人住的待出租房間說。“我們舉辦各種活動，有投杯球賽，瑜伽課，等等。”在宣傳視頻中，護理院的一名老人認爲該計劃很“貼心”。她解釋說：“他們有時會幫我架上助行架，在大廳裏跟他們比賽誰跑得快。”)
Onno Selbach, the first student to move in, says he learnt to be more patient as a result of the experience; the pace of life is slower at the home. The scheme has helped attract prospective residents. The home now has a waiting list, which it previously did not. And students are queuing up. When two left the home in April, 27 applied to replace them.
(奧諾·塞爾巴赫（Onno Selbach）是第一個搬到護理院的學生。他說，這裏的生活節奏比較慢，這段經歷讓他變得更有耐心。該計劃已成功幫助護理院吸引來了老人。現在入住這裏需要排隊了，以前是不用的。學生也一樣。今年4月兩名學生離開護理院時，有27人申請接替。)
Humanitas is not the first institution to urge old and young people to live together. Municipalities across Spain and care homes in Lyon, France, and Cleveland, Ohio, have also experimented with the idea. A team from Finland visited Deventer and was inspired to start a similar scheme.
Such initiatives could help combat loneliness, an increasing problem across the rich world. The very old, migrants, the sick or disabled, and singletons are most at risk of feeling lonely. It goes hand in hand with social isolation. About 18% of adult EU citizens—some 75m people—see friends or family at most only once a month. Nearly half of Britons over the age of 65 say that television or pets are their main form of company. Loneliness is also reckoned to have serious health consequences: a study from 2015 found that lonely people had on average a 26% higher risk of dying in its seven-year study period than those who were not lonely. And the problem may only get worse. The share of people who are aged over 80 will more than double in the EU by 2080. Social isolation is becoming more common partly because people are marrying later. Creating a space for the elderly to mingle with youngsters can lift spirits—and help cash-strapped millennials.
(“人文”護理院並不是首個倡導老人和年輕人同住的機構。西班牙的衆多城市，以及法國里昂、美國俄亥俄州的克利夫蘭的多家護理院也都踐行了這一想法。芬蘭的一個團隊訪問了代芬特爾並受到啓發，準備啓動一個類似的計劃。)
(這些舉措有助於防止在富裕世界裏日益嚴重的孤獨問題。高齡老人、移民、病人、殘疾人以及單身人士最容易感到孤獨。它與社會隔絕相伴相生。大約18%的成年歐盟公民（7500萬人左右）一個月最多隻見一次朋友或親人。近一半65歲以上的英國人稱陪伴自己最多的是電視機或寵物。孤獨也被認爲會嚴重影響健康。2015年的一項研究表明，在其七年研究期內，孤獨者的死亡風險比不孤獨者平均高出26%。而且這個問題可能只會愈演愈烈。到2080年，歐盟80歲以上人口的比例將增加一倍以上。社會隔絕日益普遍的原因之一是晚婚。爲老年人創造一個與年輕人打成一片的空間可以振奮他們的精神，同時也幫助了手頭拮据的千禧一代。)
