College students can help seniors with everyday tasks
December 14, 2010
During her hours working as a clerk at Walgreens, University of Wisconsin-River Falls student Charlee Borg had the chance to start talking to senior citizens.
Many confided that they had difficulties performing everyday tasks, such as one woman who said that she had trouble opening her pill bottles and had even injured herself while trying to change the sheets on her bed, according to The River Falls Journal.
Borg said she became so inspired that she and her friend, Katie Sheehan, decided to start a free, volunteer service called Helping Hands. The organization now helps older adults with chores that they may have trouble doing alone, such as shoveling or meal preparation.
Most of the requests take less than an hour, as they are minor tasks, but Sheehan suggested that they would take seniors much longer to complete.
“We’re not a cleaning service, we’re a helping service,” Borg told the news source.
Seniors who are living independently but may need occasional help may want to invest in a personal emergency response system, which can ensure one’s safety. This device can be used to send a medical alert to neighbors or doctors if medical assistance is required.
