Mercy Health’s Mercy Place Mont Clare in Claremont is inviting WA locals to revive the long-lost art of letter writing with its new pen pal scheme.
The aged care residential home is developing a network of pen pals within the local community to correspond with its residents.
Joan Lowney, Service Manager at Mercy Place Mont Clare, hoped the pen pal project would bring an added dimension to the seniors’ lives, as the aged care home has increased the range of one-to-one activities for residents during this challenging time.
“We all remember the joy of going to the letterbox and receiving a letter from a friend, and then taking the time to write back,” Ms Lowney said.
“This is particularly relevant for our elderly residents who had pen pals when they were younger and we would love to allow them to rebuild or expand their social networks during this time.
“And so we are appealing to those in the local community who would like to re-discover the joy of letter writing to contact us, as we would love to put them in touch with one of our residents who would be keen to connect with a new pen pal and enjoy hearing their news and learning a little about their life.
“Those who are interested may be young or old, we don’t have a preference as we know our residents will just love receiving a handwritten letter, perhaps for the first time in many years,” she continued.
All residents’ correspondence is thoroughly sanitised as part of the strict measures in place within the home.
In addition, the home’s local men’s club has recently built a special letterbox for residents to post and receive their mail.
Founded by the Sisters of Mercy, Mercy Health is a Catholic not-for-profit provider of care and grounded in a 2000-year tradition of caring for those in need.
The organisation provides health and aged care services throughout Victoria, southern NSW, WA, QLD, and the ACT.
In WA, the organisation cares for more than 300 people across six residential aged care homes, with an additional 78 retirement living units.
To show interest in becoming a pen pal for a Mercy Place Mont Clare resident, email: nrana@mercy.com.au