Twelve YOPEY Befrienders from a Welwyn Garden City school have been given awards for befriending elderly residents at a care home in the Hertfordshire town.
The Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire visited Oakview Lodge and saw the sixth-formers from Ridgeway Academy “in action” with residents and staff.
The teenagers have been visiting most weeks since before Christmas. Under the watchful eyes of carers, they play games with residents and chat with them. Several have made wonderful intergenerational friendships.
In an awards ceremony hosted by the care home, Lord-Lieutenant Robert Voss CBE presented each young person with a certificate “In recognition of outstanding service as a positive role model for young people in the community through his dedication and commitment to the YOPEY Dementia Befriender scheme”.
The Lord-Lieutenant, who represents the King, said the scheme was a “win-win for everyone involved – the young people, elderly and the care home’s staff”.
YOPEY’s founder Tony Gearing MBE gave all 12 enamel YOPEY Befriender badges “which I would like them all to wear with pride. They are doing great work.”
It is hoped the young people will continue to visit until the autumn when they will recruit their replacement YOPEY Befrienders from the new sixth-formers at their school.
Sixteen-year-old Thomas Casserley spoke on behalf of all the current YOPEY Befrienders when he said he was initially unsure about how he would make friends with people so much older than himself – the average age of a care home resident is 86 – but he now really enjoyed organising games for them to do. “I feel my soul is a little bit larger.”
Eighty-six-year-old resident Mo said the YOPEY Befrienders “keep your memory going by asking questions about the past. They tell us what they have been doing for the last week, and we give them advice.”
Mo and her fellow resident Anne, also in her 80s, said they looked forward to the YOPEY Befrienders’ visits as it was a highlight of life in the care home.
Oakview Lodge is owned by Country Court, a group of family-owed care homes. Its regional manager Sarah Mair thanked everyone for “taking part in this wonderful scheme that brought the generations together”.
The partnership between YOPEY, Ridgeway and Oakview is the first YOPEY Befriender scheme in Hertfordshire since the pandemic and Mr Gearing hopes to add more in the coming months.