Launched in Ain, this mutual aid platform for the elderly has conquered the country

Allow the elderly to live as long as possible at home, and fight against isolation, thanks to a digital platform that coordinates local solidarity. Called Bip Pop (Bip for alert, Pop for population), it connects seniors and volunteers ready to help them for free. This is the case of Marinette, a resident of Trévoux.

At 98, she finds it increasingly difficult to get around, so she uses the Bip Pop service for her shopping. She calls a dedicated number to express her needs, her “mission” is then created on the platform which solicits the voluntary inhabitants of the sector. That day, it was Marie-Hélène and Francine who accepted the mission given by Marinette.

We owe the idea of ​​this support platform to Anne Guénand, teacher-researcher at the University of Technology of Compiègne: “Originally I was in an accident, I was hit by a car in 2015. I spent several months in bed and although my neighbors offered to help me, I dared not ask them. And that was the question that was at the origin of Bip Pop, and asking an institution is not the same as asking your neighbor“.

If the platform was launched in Trévoux, during the first confinement of 2020, the concept quickly interested other municipalities to reach today a thousand user cities. Because it is the communities that manage the exchanges and the connection between beneficiaries and volunteers, in order to guarantee the safety of all. A support network that has no trouble recruiting volunteers. In Trévoux, the device works with eighty volunteers who take turns to help as many elderly people.