Together, we fight against the solitude of the elderly

Together, we fight against the solitude of the elderly (2 min 44 s)

Added on December 26, 2015

Description
The Centre d’action bénévole de Granby helps seniors stay in touch with their loved ones by providing access to tablets and the Skype app. This service is increasingly popular and wouldn’t have been possible without Desjardins’s help.

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Together, we fight against the solitude of the elderly (2 min 44 s)

Added on December 26, 2015 | Desjardins Group

Note: The information placed between brackets describes the visual and audio content of the video other than dialogue or narration.

[Text on the screen: Together, we fight against the solitude of the elderly.]

[Ambient music.]

[Text on the screen: Patrick Saint-Denis, Manager of Volunteer Services.]

[Shot of Patrick who speaks to the camera. While he speaks, there is a montage of shots of the sign for the Centre d'action bénévole de Granby inc. and the city of Granby from different angles.]

Patrick Saint-Denis: The friendship visit service pairs a volunteer with an elderly person who is lonely and would like some company. We have nearly 70 to 80 friendship visits every week in Granby and neighbouring towns. Recently, we added an online component and trained volunteers&helllip;

[Shot of Patrick with 2 colleagues at a table, talking, each of them using a tablet.]

Patrick Saint-Denis: …to use the Skype app and help their elderly clients to keep in touch with people who live farther away and who they don't see often. That's what's great about this project.

[Shots of Patrick and his colleagues themselves on tablet screens using Skype.]

Patrick Saint-Denis: Without Desjardins, the project would not have happened. We don't have the financial means to buy tablets and equipment, or the time to train volunteers. Desjardins helped us get the project underway. And, as you can see, in just under 2 years, it's growing.

[Shot of Patrick facing the camera, then in his car, which he parks in front of a house. He enters and is welcomed by a woman.]

[Shot of Yolande in her garden, speaking to the camera.]

[Text on the screen: Yolande Bonnette, visited on Skype.]

Yolande Bonnette: My husband passed away 7 years ago. I have 5 children, 6 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.

[While she speaks, the camera pans to framed photos of Yolande's wedding, her grandchildren, and to family pictures hanging on a wall.]

Yolande Bonnette: So that makes for a good-sized family. I can use the tablet to talk to my son Pierre, who is in Vancouver right now. He'll be going to Singapore for a year but I'll still be able to see him there too!

[Shot of the tablet, where we see Pierre, talking to his mother.]

Yolande Bonnette: I think it's a great invention, for sure! It's better than the telephone. You have to hold a phone, and be there, but with a tablet, you just sit and talk.

[Close-up of Yolande's son on the tablet.]

[Text on the screen: Claude Bonnette, Mrs. Bonnette's eldest son ]

[Shot of Claude on the tablet, then back to Yolande, in the garden, speaking to the camera.]

Yolande Bonnette: It's the same as visiting someone or someone visiting you, because we see each other, and that's what's important. We can see if the other is sick, or not sick, or whatever. If they got fatter or thinner [laughing]. So, when he smiles and has round cheeks, it means he's doing well [laughing]! I like the tablet for that.

[Text on the screen: To the millions of Desjardins members, thank you.]

[Image on the screen: Desjardins logo desjardins.com/together]