The local government of the 5th district has always paid special attention to provide help to the
elderly of the district. It wasn’t different during the declared state of danger regarding the
coronavirus.
„The measures we took in order to react to the special circumstances highlighted the importance of the protection of the elderly and their health. We had extraordinary snow falling in 2012 when we realized the vulnerability of the elderly, and in 2020 we were already ready to provide improved help.’’ – said Csilla Jeneiné Dr. Rubovszky, vice mayor.

The elderly of the 5th District has not stayed without help in the last two month. The team of
the Helping Hands (Segítő Kezek az Aktív Évekért Közhasznú Nonprofit Kft.) could adapt to
the new situation fast and with flexibility.

„Our goal is to provide help with regularity, minimizing the risk of the spread of the virus. Our
colleagues could shape the visits of the elderly according to the safety measures. They
minimized personal contact and maximized the contacts through infocommunication channels.
When personal contact was inevitable, our colleagues used disinfectant gels on their hands,
wore face masks and gloves.” – Added the vice mayor.

Luckily, the team of the Helping Hands could adapt easily to the new challenges, since the
infocommunication programme that helps the elderly has been active since September
2015. The old people who have taken part in this service are able to use their computers
with confidence, thus communicating online with our dispatchers went fluently. The
residents of the district also had the opportunity to talk online with the Police Department of
the district more times a week to talk about crime prevention and get answers to any of their
questions or doubts.

„Since the people over age 70 were the most endangered ones, our team provided special
help to the elderly. For instance, we collaborated with the GPs and the pharmacies so
everyone could get their medicines on time.” – told Péter Szentgyörgyvölgyi, mayor.
The negative effects of the virus are visible and sensible by everyone. However, the state of
danger lets us find new problem solutions and good practices that we can utilize in the
future as well. Infocommuniaction tools has showed their importance in this situation as
well, online communication has proved to be the fastest and safest way to reach old clients.

Thanks to the local government of the district, the services of the Helping Hands are freely
available for the downtown residents over age 75 who are not able to leave their homes. On
the one hand, our team provides help at their home or in the district (walk, shopping,
accompany for services, talk, read etc.) that are not provided by nurturing services. On the
other hand, the elderly can ask for help to learn to orientate in the digital world through their
own laptops and computers.

For more information, please ask Gergely Fige, the professional leader of the Helping
Hands.
Phone: +3630-466-9931, E-mail: fige.gergely@segitokezek.com

Source: Mai Belváros

This article is translated by Anita Nagy.
Click here for the Hungarian version.