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Today we welcomed a delegation from Union College (New York), consisting of fourteen pre-health students with various areas of interest: from pre-medical, dental and public health to politics and philosophy. The group is currently touring the Netherlands to get a thorough impression of the Dutch healthcare system.

At Leyden Academy, director Marieke van der Waal provided the students with an introduction to the structure  and financing of health care in The Netherlands, in an international perspective. She discussed the challenges we are facing, most of which sounded quite familiar to the US students: an ageing population, rising health care cost and an increase in life style related diseases. Scientific staff member Lex van Delden presented a solution to the latter challenge: we can promote a healthier and more social lifestyle by making subtle changes in our work and living environments. Finally, scientific staff member Jolanda Lindenberg gave the students insight into three different care models, each with its own pros and cons.

The Union College students visiting Leyden Academy is becoming a wonderful tradition and we look forward to welcoming them again in 2016.

On Wednesday 8 July, we celebrated the graduation of our master students Vitality & Ageing. Fourteen proud and excited MSc students received their master degrees in the historical Academiegebouw in Leiden and were invited to sign their names in the prestigious ‘zweetkamertje’ (or ‘little transpiration room’) among the signatures of King Willem-Alexander, Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill and many others.

During last year’s MSc programme, the students have developed themselves into the potential pioneers that will set out to change the field of ageing and vitality. We are confident that they will use the obtained knowledge and skills to make valuable contributions to the quality of life of older people around the globe and in their respective home countries, ranging from the UK and Czech Republic to Tanzania, Iran, China and India.

We are already looking forward to the start of college year 2015-2016. In September, we will welcome fourteen new ambitious students from all over the world, sharing a passion for the elderly.

With over fifty years of research experience Jenny Gierveld (76), emeritus professor of sociology and social gerontology, is truly an authority in the field of loneliness. In 1969 she gained her PhD at VU Amsterdam and she is still involved in international research on loneliness and types of social relationships among the elderly. During the Masters of Ageing lecture at Leyden Academy on May 19, professor Gierveld focused on social relations in later life and the differences between countries.

Grandparents take care of the children 
In the 1980s professor Gierveld developed a measuring scale for loneliness on the basis of six objectives, in which the term itself was strictly avoided: “If the word loneliness is brought up, people usually start talking about someone else.” With this scale, for example, the degree of loneliness can be compared between countries. She found that older people in Eastern and Southern Europe are much lonelier than seniors in Western Europe, despite the fact that grandparents in countries such as Russia and Georgia co-reside with their families much more often. In contrast to the assumption that there is more social integration and children take care of their parents. Professor Gierveld went to Georgia herself to understand how living together did not lead to a reduction in feelings of loneliness, as it turns out the grandparents take care of the grandchildren and run the household, often in difficult conditions. Thus, countering loneliness demands an interplay of individual and societal factors.

Loneliness is deadlier than smoking
That loneliness a serious social problem that endangers public health, was proven by research by Julianne Holt-Lunstad et al. from 2010, confirmed in 2015, that showed that the mortality risk due to loneliness and a lack of social support is greater than the damage of 15 cigarettes a day. Professor Gierveld outlined that changing family ties will increase  the development of loneliness in The Netherlands: we have fewer children, who often live further away and the frequency of face-to-face contacts is dwindling. To illustrate these developments she mentioned a recent commercial by Dutch telecom provider KPN, where two toddlers Skype with grandpa Henk on the other side of the ocean.

Strengthen your convoy
Professor Gierveld finished her lecture with a rather bleak message and an important practical advice. The gloomy message: after fifty years in the field, she must conclude that most organisations are too optimistic about the effect of interventions. Despite all the well-intentioned initiatives from churches and volunteer organisations it proves extremely difficult to reach and help very lonely people. Professor Gierveld believes in prevention and advised her audience to invest in their ‘convoy’, a powerful metaphor for the social network as a group of ships that sail through life together. Take good care of your family, friends, and neighbours. Think twice before you move to a new city and try your best to solve quarrels, because particularly at a higher age it is quite hard to add new vessels to your social convoy.

If you would like to stay informed about our lectures, please send us an email.

On Wednesday 6 May, Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing was visited by a delegation of television channel Shanghai TV. The Chinese are working on a documentary about ageing and the structure and financing of elderly care in countries like The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Japan and the United States. In The Netherlands, they met with State Secretary Martin van Rijn, the Health Inspection, care institution Laurens and visited a number of Dutch nursing homes.

Four interviews in Leiden
At Leyden Academy, Shanghai TV spoke with ageing scientist David Van Bodegom and directors Marieke van der Waal and Joris Slaets. David introduced the demographic developments in the Netherlands, the perception of older people in society and the way in which health care providers are prepared for elderly patients in their education. In this context, Sarah Liu was interviewed: one of the Chinese students who follow the master Vitality & Ageing at Leyden Academy this college year. Sarah could tell first hand about the differences between her motherland and The Netherlands. Marieke van der Waal walked the Chinese delegation through the structure and funding of the Dutch (elderly) care and Joris Slaets explained the current shift from a focus on disease and treatment to more person-centred care with a focus on quality of life.

Hundreds of millions of viewers
The interviews will be developed into a documentary that will air in October 2015 on Shanghai TV, with approximately 100 million viewers in- and outside of China. The five separate items of ten minutes (each covering a theme, like education and financing) will also be broadcasted on Dragon TV that has as many as 200 million viewers. We hope the strengths and lessons learned from the Dutch context will reach a wide audience and give a positive contribution to elderly care in China.

This week, the master students Vitality and Ageing enjoyed an inspiring study trip to Budapest, Hungary. The program included a visit to the Hungarian Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, the Hungarian House of Parliament, Semmelweis University and Semmelweis University Hospital, founded in 1769. The students were welcomed and shown around in elderly home Napfény Otthon (Sunshine Home). Naturally, the students also explored Budapest’s day and night life.

On 9 February, the MSc students Vitality and Ageing visited nursing home Oudshoorn in Alphen aan de Rijn. At the end of 2013, Oudshoorn transformed from a traditional nursing home to a small-scale home that can be best compared to a small village: central is the village square with a hair salon, supermarket, the Uitbureau (a kind of tourist office) and a grand café. The square is surrounded by various ‘streets ‘ with a total of 22 houses, each housing eight residents and their permanent caregivers. These houses run their own household: they shop for groceries, prepare dinner in the open kitchen, wash and iron the clothes. Around the living room, each resident has a private bedroom.

The basic idea of nursing home Oudshoorn is that the 176 residents with dementia and psychiatric problems are above all people. People with their own unique life stories, desires and needs for social interaction. Everything is furnished to accommodate this as much as possible. The homely environment ensures that residents remain involved in daily life for as long as possible and makes it easier for staff to really get to know the residents.

For the master students, this visit provided an interesting introduction to a progressive nursing home. For more information, visit the website of nursing home Oudshoorn.