Commitment: The neighbor with an open ear

Robin Hardt (29) and Siegfried Geldner (81) are a good team. They recently went to a concert together. Hardt is actually Geldner's personal computer expert. He visits the pensioner twice a week in his house in Kiedrich. The former lawyer and IT expert has poor eyesight, so Hardt helps him with emails or sets a larger clock on the screen.

Hardt is one of around 70 volunteers who support around 400 senior citizens in need of care at the Neighborhood Assistance Association Upper Rheingau in Eltville. Geldner's household help, who comes to him three times a week, was also arranged by the neighborhood assistance association. Eight full-time employees support the volunteers, as the demand is greater than they can cover.

Anyone who lives at home but has a care level is entitled to a "relief allowance" of 131 euros per month. This is paid by the nursing insurance for support in everyday life. Medical and nursing tasks are expressly not included. The helpers receive an expense allowance of ten euros per hour.

There are many neighborhood associations in Hesse , many of which have been active for decades. What is new is that the local initiatives are working together. The Hessen Neighborhood Assistance Association has just been founded. It arose from a research project that ends on February 28th. "Not everyone has to reinvent the wheel," says Eymann, who founded the Eltville association in his living room and now also co-chairs the state association.

For the project "Being CLOSE - Neighborhood help in everyday life and in the household of older people," two research institutes accompanied six neighborhood associations in Hesse for 15 months. What are the specific problems on site? What are the best practice examples for solving them?

The biggest problem: the generational change. "Many neighborhood associations were founded in the 1990s, the founders are leaving, but there is a lack of new talent," says Christa Larsen from the Institute for Economics, Work and Culture (IWAK) at Goethe University, one of the two project partners. Another problem: "Many neighborhood associations are isolated - precisely because they are so committed," says Larsen.

"Care is a huge issue"

At the end of 2023, according to the State Statistical Office, 423,400 people in Hesse received social long-term care insurance benefits. 366,000 of them were cared for at home. In the 2023 Hesse Care Report, the IWAK Institute predicted that the number would rise by 11.7 percent by 2030. "This cannot be absorbed in either inpatient or outpatient care," says Stefan Ekert from InterVal, the second project partner.

"Care is a huge issue," says Yasmin Alinaghi, managing director of Paritätische Hessen. "The professional system can no longer handle it alone." Neighborhood associations are therefore becoming increasingly important. But the volunteers must not be overburdened.

"Two things are important," stresses Alinaghi: "The goal is to delay the need for care as long as possible. And it is not the job of volunteers to take over what professionals cannot do due to cost reasons or lack of staff."

Goal: stay in your own four walls for as long as possible

For Social Minister Diana Stolz (CDU), the neighborhood associations make "an indispensable contribution to ensuring that older people remain in their own homes for as long as possible." The volunteers also help to reduce loneliness in old age. "This structure must be secured and further developed with a view to the future."

Eymann hopes that in a few years there will be neighborhood associations with a uniform structure throughout Hesse. The umbrella organization could organize training courses, help set up digital systems, support legal issues and help the associations find new volunteers. Because they are in short supply everywhere. In Eltville, too, the waiting list of clients is long. "At times, we can manage maybe a third."

Robin Hardt enjoyed his volunteer work so much that he is now a permanent employee of the neighborhood association. "I wanted to do something that I thought had meaning behind it," says the social worker.

He currently looks after around ten people in need of care, drives them to the doctor, accompanies them to the hospital, takes them for walks or cleans their apartment. He believes that something else is probably more important than what is written on the time sheet: "having an open ear".