• The best ideas

    Below you will find descriptions of the most interesting ideas submitted to the competition – our finalists. We hope that they will be used by organizations, institutions and other interested parties who work to support the nazi persecution survivors in one way or another.

     

    Click on the photo to see more details about each idea.

    broken image

    emPOWERment Academy

    Michał Piel

    The idea of the "emPOWERment Academy" is about the creation of a voluntary center for young people and adults. The Academy recruits volunteers, trains them in first aid, care and nursing of the elderly. Volunteers take part in an internship, e.g. in a nearby hospice or a nursing home, gaining relevant experience.

    broken image

    Masterpiece

    Aleksandra Mueller and Dorota Półtorak-Sieg

    "Masterpiece" is an idea for the integration of young people with seniors, in which the joint creation of stylized furniture is a pretext to meet and listen to the life history of older persons. Each piece of furniture that is built leaves a visible trace of the relationship tied between generations. It is a witness of their conversations, cooperation, learning from each other and friendships being made.

    broken image

    Playing stories

    Anna Nowacka

    Older people, especially those with reduced mobility and vision problems, lack creative entertainment. "Playing stories" is an idea to introduce seniors to the world of role-playing games with the help of young fans of this entertainment.

    broken image

    Relationship Archive

    Dorota Domaradzka-Lech

    Talking to loved ones about death and passing away is difficult, dying still is a taboo subject. The "Relationship Archive" idea provides tools that will make it easier to accompany the elderly on their final journey and to prepare their loved ones for mourning.

    broken image

    Museum with home delivery

    Kalina Patek

    "Museum with home delivery" is a solution based on the idea of social meetings of animators with the elderly and the creation of local, neighbourhood "museums of memories". The museum would be based on memories, personal items and souvenirs – photos, documents, letters, postcards, clothes, furniture.

    broken image

    We remember –​ we help

    Anna Kamecka

    Many years have passed since the war, fewer and fewer witnesses of this tragic history are still alive. The idea "We remember – we help" helps to ensure that it is not forgotten and is not known to the younger generation only from textbooks.

    broken image

    Information and Coordination Centre for Dependent Persons and their Families

    Bartłomiej Głuszak, Monika Michniewicz and Aneta Fabisiak-Hill

    The essence of the idea is to enable older people to stay at home and in their own communities for as long as possible, with the support of their family, local care institutions, health centers, volunteers and local authorities.

    broken image

    A taste of happiness

    Anna Podstawka

    Older persons are often lonely. Their friends and spouses leave them behind and they often feel misunderstood by their families (if they have one). The "Taste of Happiness" is an opportunity to meet and open up to another person who understands the beneficiary, because they have a similar baggage of experiences. This idea also gives the elderly the opportunity to tell their story, which is especially important at the end of life.

    broken image

    Touch the presence

    Karolina Marcinkowska

    The idea "Touch the presence" involves organizing a meeting or a series of meetings between a senior and a therapist on the conscious work with the body and the beneficial influence of touch and breath on well-being, mental and physical health. People trained in these areas will accompany an elderly person in learning how to independently perform breathing exercises, self-massage of hands, feet and face. By repeating the learned exercises and having the opportunity to practice them with the therapist, seniors will be able to take care of their health on their own.

    broken image

    University of Relationship

    Beata Potocka

    People to whom the University of Relationships is addressed most often have their basic, medical or sanitary needs met – various services, institutions and their family are involved in satisfying them. However, these are not all the needs of older people. It is much more difficult to take care of the wider well-being, reducing the feeling of loneliness, meaninglessness and strengthening the feeling of being important and needed. Meanwhile, loneliness, isolation or stagnation can activate depressive states, take away the will to live and worsen overall health. University of Relationships aims to be a remedy for these problems.

    broken image

    How you eat is how you feel

    Hanna Dąbrowska

    Improper diet, unsuitable for the older age and health conditions, can result in serious health problems for the elderly persons. The idea of "How you eat is how you feel" assumes the support of seniors by dietetics students, who will first develop individual diet plans for them (menus, recipes, ingredient lists, etc.), and then monitor their implementation and effects of the process.

    broken image

    Empathetic encounters

    Karina Cienciała and Aneta Gadzińska

    "Empathetic encounters" is a solution that involves connecting novice therapists, psychologists, personal development trainers or coaches (people who have broadly developed empathic conversation skills) and the elderly, including those aggrieved by Nazism. Elderly people who survived the war often struggle with traumatic memories – intensified due to senile dementia, loneliness, apathy and a sense of social uselessness, and thus: lack of meaning in life, often depression. The conversation offers a respite, a sense of acceptance, it would defuse difficult emotions, tame fears and make the seniors feel less lonely.

    broken image

    Junior-Senior (Let’s meet at the table)

    Agnieszka Iwańska-Mróz

    "JUNIOR-SENIOR. Let’s meet at the table" is a solution supporting intergenerational integration and inclusion of seniors, who survived Nazi persecution, in helping teenage children from an orphanage.

    broken image

    A dog is a friend forever

    Basia Zych and Dorota Marynowicz

    Older persons, who have experienced trauma or a cut to their family ties in their life, are often lonely today. Pets help them overcome loneliness, build a sense of security, of being needed and loved. When such people move to a nursing home, they often have to leave their pet behind. This separation becomes an additional source of suffering for them.


    This project is a series of steps to implement the change. At the beginning, we look at the pet, its condition and possibilities of functioning in a new place, then we prepare the surroundings of the nursing home for the owner with his dog or cat. Volunteers will help with the daily care of pets.

    broken image

    Mobile Service Centre

    Małgorzata Ostasz

    The Mobile Service Centre is an idea for a service point that would coordinate the services provided in the local senior community by the centre operator and other local service providers (local institutions and NGOs). The centre would provide comprehensive services tailored to the individual needs of older persons living in a given city/area.