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Bristol family’s newspaper lifeline for elderly relative
Image source, Family Handout
Margaret Green and her husband Terry read a personalised newspaper created by their family especially for them
A daughter has said a family newspaper is helping combat loneliness for her elderly mother.
Tiana Ciroaco, 60, from South Gloucestershire, and 12 other family members create a newspaper each month for 85-year-old Margaret Green, from Bristol, who has Alzheimer’s.
Ms Ciroaco said: “It’s been great for her to have it, she really loves it.”
The newspaper company Famileo are donating money from new subscriptions to a Bristol anti-loneliness charity.
Mrs Ciroaco, from Oldland Common, said: “I bought it back in March and thought it would be perfect for mum because we could look at it together, I could give a little commentary on all the updates from family and she can look at it again and again.”
She explained family members from Canada, Frome and around Bristol create posts that they want Margaret, who is a great-grandmother, and her husband Terry to see.
‘Combat loneliness’
She said: “Facetimes are great but this is something mum can go back and read again and again.
“Elderly people don’t have social media like the rest of us, so this is the perfect way for them to see what has been going on.
“Mum has Alzheimer’s and I just thought a personalised newspaper would be perfect because the photos invoke memories and we love chatting about them.”
Image source, Family handout
Tiana and her mum enjoy reading the newspaper together
Famileo allows families to create newspapers using an app and posts can include recent life events, pictures or even nostalgia posts.
The company is donating £1 from every new subscription to the charity Marmalade Trust to help with projects like Marmalade Companions, where lonely people are teamed up someone for 15 weeks to help them build connections in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire.
It is to coincide with the Marmalade Trust’s seventh Loneliness Awareness Week, which runs until June 18.
Alice Peperell, campaign director of Loneliness Awareness Week at Marmalade Trust, said they want to combat stigma relating to loneliness.
Image source, Family handout
Maragaret reads the families personalised newspaper every month
She said: “We think what Famileo is doing is providing an amazing way of getting different generations to communicate.
“It’s looking at the way young people communicate – mostly through pictures and then merging it with the older generations preferred communication in having a print out.
“It’s so beautiful, there is so much power in families getting that inter-generational support.
“It’s the little everyday interactions that can make a big difference in all our lives.”
Through this campaign Famileo aims to encourage individuals to make new connections and strengthen family ties.
