Break isolation, bring comfort and joy, raise awareness of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon and invite the elders of the long-term care unit of the François-Dunan hospital center to communicate with the outside world through cards postal… This is the project in which the facilitator and the residents of the establishment have been participating for several months.
Two years ago, Stéphanie from Nice founded a site that would go around the world, or almost. His name: Jovial Cards. When she started, she had no idea that this initiative would grow.
The idea is very simple: send postcards to accommodation establishments for dependent elderly people, long-term care units, retirement homes or even to elderly or younger people, isolated or hospitalized.
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After having frequented many establishments for the elderly and during her numerous professional trips, Stéphanie corresponded with her grandmother by postcards and that is where she “saw the joy, the emotions it gave him“. Their cards recounted trips, summer camps, childhood…
We all have a grandmother or grandfather story to tell. And I noticed that there were people who never spoke but thanks to these postcards, they communicated again and that led to many discussions.
Stéphanie, founder of “Cartes Joviales”
As Stéphanie points out, “it’s a simple tool and it came that way. One thing led to another, I said to myself, let’s try and as I have a lot of ambition, my dream was to create avalanches of postcards in nursing homes.”
To date, around 200 establishments participate on an ad hoc or year-round basis in the project launched by Jovial Cards in 2022. Structures located in all regions of France, in Belgium but also in Reunion and Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
While surfing social media, I noticed a group asking if people were interested in contacting people from EHPADs and retirement homes. So I contacted these people and communicated with “Les Cartes Joviales” on their Facebook page.
Marina Champdoizeau, facilitator at the USLD of the François-Dunan hospital center
To date, USLD residents of the archipelago have already received around fifty postcards.
As Marina Champdoizeau explains, “ when we read the cards to them, it soothes their hearts. When we show them what we received and hang them on the wall, families can also see these cards“.
Some of the postcards received at the USLD from the François Dunan hospital center. • ©MARIE-PAULE VIDAL
This project is therefore a moment of sharing between the establishments where the famous cards are sent. The objective is also to have elderly people travel to other regions of France, to break isolation and to bring smiles back to children and adults alike.
And this involves this little attention which ultimately takes on a more human dimension because according to Marina Champdoizeau, ” there are people who still have a great passion for writing. The Internet is good, it’s faster, but there is no more contact and there are people who no longer have family. DSuddenly they are happy when we write them a note and display the cards they receive, for the pleasure of the families as well”.
The fact that the USLD of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon is participating, I find that it even more reinforces the idea of travel, of distance. For us, it’s great to have people from the archipelago.
Stéphanie D, founder of “Cartes Joviales”.
To date, it is difficult to count the number of postcards with certainty, but the collective estimates that this represents between 1,000 and 1,500 cards sent each month.
Postcards that can be found on the Joviales cards page. A collective that also shares a lot of comments to share their experience. • ©MARINA CHAMPDOIZEAU
The most active periods are during the end-of-year holidays and during the month of August. It brings together 1,000 senders and has between 1,600 and 1,700 members on its Facebook page.
There are around a hundred members per week, passive or active, it’s still difficult to say, who are interested in this collective. Because it is indeed a collective and not an association with an office and a president.
By creating this collective, I wanted it to truly be an autonomous community with people we call “happy shippers”. People like you and me who want to send postcards whenever they want. There is no commitment.
Stéphanie, founder of Cartes Joviales
And the “Happy Shippers”, who number more than 500, range in age from 4 to…104 years old!
And as the end-of-year holidays approach, everyone will be able to take out their best pen and write their best message. Moreover, Les Cartes Joviales have just published a message on their Facebook page to invite people for their special Christmas operation.
With the end of year holidays approaching, it’s time to write postcards at the USLD of the François Dunan hospital center. • ©MARIE-PAULE VIDAL
And precisely, at the USLD of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, we are preparing for it. Marina Champdoizeau even launched an appeal to the local population to offer the structure’s patients Christmas cards, greetings or landscapes of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.
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As the host mentions, “we will send them to those who took the time to write to us as well as to acquaintances who live in retirement homes, hospitals or long-term care units”.
The solidarity was very, very strong. I collected quite a few cards and now we’re going to start writing a note.
Marina Chamdpoizeau, USLD facilitator
Among the residents of the long-term care unit, Joël. For him, this project is a good idea. And this Monday, November 25, he decided to write a card for the Christmas holidays.
I am writing in Rennes where I spent a few months. A word about the weather, the temperatures we have and I tell them that we did not have the heat of the Sahara but rather that of the North Pole.
The call is therefore launched to future Happy Shippers to send postcards to nursing homes and establishments serving a vulnerable population. An initiative entitled: This year, Santa Claus is us! Schools and health establishments are also invited to the trip.
