Marieke, 25, from the Netherlands Makes it Ageless:

"Nurse, nurse, could you please listen to me?" He shouted out. "Nurse, please, I have something important to say."

"I'll be with you in a second, sir!" I replied, running from one room to the next. After a minute or two, I sat down with him and said: "Sir, what is so important?"

"I've forgotten actually," he replied. "But I'm happy you've found time to sit down with me for a while."

Spend a little time to show you care

And that's where the problem lies. We don't have time to sit down with older people, listen to their stories and spend time with them. We see in the media a lot now that older people are lonely. And I understand that people don't have a lot of time. 

We have work, social lives and hobbies. I'm no different from anyone else. However, I've seen from my work that spending a little time with someone and showing you care means a lot to them. It can brighten up their day - and yours too!

I come from a small village where family is very important. I thought loneliness was something that happened mainly in big cities, until I started working in homecare. I met people whose only social contact was seeing their nurse twice a day. Unfortunately, time is a precious thing in homecare, but whenever I can I make some time to sit down and have a coffee with my patients.

Little stories are good to hear

When you first meet an older person in my village, the first question they ask is: "Who's your family?" As a result, my work with older people has led me to find out that my grandfather stole barbed wire to sell so he could buy cigarettes. He also played hide and seek with his brother and cousins, and cheated. Little stories, but good to hear. Another important question is whether you have a boyfriend. If not, most of them have a nice grandson who's available!

Before I started working in homecare I worked in a nursing home taking care of people with dementia, which I really enjoyed. Once, I was sitting with three ladies talking about the good old days. One of the ladies told us for the fourth time how much she liked her mother's cooking. One of the other ladies said she had to go home to take care of her children.

"Aren't your children old enough to take care of themselves?" I asked her, because I knew she already had four grandchildren.

The first lady who just told me for the fifth time how much she liked her mother's cooking then whispered to me: "She's really sick you know, her children are already old! I just hope I never get dementia!"

Brighten up their day!

One of the highlights for people living at the nursing home is going on a trip. For the nurses it means a lot of work. We start by getting everything ready for the beach and the aquarium, including medication, wheelchairs, towels, washcloths, telephones and more.

Together with some volunteers, we started our day in the aquarium. Most of the people were enthusiastic, but one said he'd like the fish better if it were baked in butter. Everyone else agreed, so it was a good thing we went to the restaurant afterwards.

At the end of the day on our way home I asked the same man which part of the day he liked most. Besides the fish he said: "I liked being on the bus talking to you. Often the nurses don't have time to talk to us because they have too much work to do."

At the moment I'm working in a hospital in Switzerland. And just like in Holland, the older people here would love to have a chat if you have some spare time. So sit down with them, have a chat and brighten up their day!