Easing the ability for senior living residents to keep in touch with their grandchildren — in a more accessible and enjoyable way — is the idea behind Famileo, a company with a mission to bridge the gap between generations.
With a weekly gazette, grandparents in various senior living communities are able to flip through the pages and keep abreast of their loved one’s lives.
“The goal was to create a way for new generations to communicate with their grandparents,” explained Julia Le Brun, United States business developer at Famileo. “The issue is that we’re not communicating with the same tools. We, the new generation, are communicating with our phones or computers, whereas our grandparents really like newspapers, postal cards and stuff like that. So Famileo is the link.”
The company was created in France and, for the past few months, its services have been available in the United States, according to Thomas Letourner, head of international expansion at Famileo.
To create gazette content, family members post updates on the Famileo app, which can include posts, photos, pictures, happy memories and other comments. From there, the updates are gathered and put into a personalized print gazette tailored to each family member. Each week, activity leaders of participating senior living facilities print the gazettes and distribute them to the residents.
The gazette provides an outlet for the community to share news with the family of the residents, with a focus on uplifting news — such as activities, celebrated birthdays and photos.
“It becomes a way for the community to communicate with the family,” Letourner said.
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