Blue Week… let’s keep it going
Blue Week is dedicated to our senior citizens, to those who have helped shape the history of our region and who still have so much to pass on. It was launched on Monday morning at Bethany Home, in the presence of Audrey Gil, Chair of the Board of Trustees, Michel Petit, the Collectivité’s 4th Vice-President responsible for social solidarity, health and families, as well as numerous professionals working with older people and representatives of organisations.
With this year’s theme being ‘Let’s bring all ages together in communities that care!’, the week aims to encourage intergenerational interaction and highlight the place of older people in society. This aim was realised right from the very first morning, with the presence of charities, professionals and children who came to meet the residents of the care home.
Henry Nagapin, director of Bethany Home, expressed the hope that this opening event would be a highlight in the residents’ lives and serve to show them the place they hold in our lives. For beyond the activities organised over the course of a few days, the real aim is to ensure that this solidarity between generations endures over the long term.
A legacy to be preserved
Mr Urbain Javois, aged 100, accompanied by Audrey Gil, chair of the board of directors of the Bethany Home care home.
Saint-Martin is now home to three centenarians: two ladies of the very respectable age of 101, and Mr Urbain Javois, who celebrated his 100th birthday last May. He came to enjoy the morning’s festivities accompanied by his granddaughter. A century of life, but also a wealth of memories, experiences and stories to pass on.
The residents of Bethany Home are the living memory of Saint Martin; they have worked in a wide variety of professions, witnessed the island’s transformation, accumulated a wealth of memories and still have so much to say… to ensure that none of this is lost, it is important to listen to their stories. With this in mind, ‘storytellers’ will soon be visiting the care home to record their stories and preserve this collective memory.
This passing on of stories also involves the youngest members of the community. Thanks to an agreement signed with the Department for Education, the little ones from Chez Elmer nursery school, as well as the older children from Marie-Amélie Leydet primary school, were able to take part in this first day. Questions, discussions and shared moments enabled the children to get to know the residents and, above all, to discover just how much they still have to offer. As Audrey Gil pointed out, ‘Semaine bleue’ should not merely be a series of activities, but above all an opportunity to forge connections. This morning was a fine illustration of that: instilling in the youngest children a love of meeting others, listening and showing respect, whilst restoring the elderly to their rightful place in society. It is a spirit that would benefit greatly from continuing well beyond a single week.
