People who are getting older or need medical help are living at home longer and longer. Smart aids can help with this. Some of them have even been developed in The Hague. You can borrow them for three months free of charge.

In the iZi Experience Home, elderly people, patients and their caregivers can view all kinds of technical aids for themselves. Volunteer Wim Baanen (89) has been guiding visitors around for years, but now he uses an aid himself. Wim fell on his way to the toilet. 'I hadn't broken anything, but I couldn't get up. I lay on the floor for ten hours before someone came by,' he says. After rehabilitation, Wim was allowed to go home, where he fell again after ten days. But now Wim could save himself. 'With the management of the iZi Experience Home, I started looking for something that could help me. If I fall again, I can call a device and it will call my daughter. But I can also use it to switch the light, heating, radio or TV on or off. Or I can ask for the weather forecast or a funny joke.'

Hip airbag

Helene Houthuizen (81) also benefits from smart aids. She has been battling cancer for more than twenty years, having beaten it six times. 'I was born with it, during the war. As a young woman, I was afraid that I might not have a future at all. That is why I have made something of my life from a young age. Lived in Italy, made art. Unfortunately, my creativity is gone now. I got cancer in my head when I was fifty-eight. I survive by being very careful. But I always fell. I have had so much chemo, every now and then something in my brain falls out and before I know it, I am lying on the ground.' Helene borrowed a hip airbag from the Technotheek on the Torenstraat. 'If you fall, such an airbag inflates two centimetres and then you do not break anything. At least, that is what they say. Because since I have had it, I have of course not fallen again.' With the hip airbag, Helene dares to go to the beach again on the back of her daughter's scooter.

Guided tour

During a tour of the iZi Experience Home, Wim shows the 'Tessa', a robot that works as a talking agenda. All aids can be borrowed for three months free of charge. If you want to keep it after that, you have to buy it or subscribe. The most special tour that Wim gave was to Queen Máxima together with volunteer Bea Oedai: 'There were quite a few smart aids that the Queen herself would like to use!' Wim's most important tip is aimed at informal caregivers: 'Go and see what is available with the person you care for. It will take some time, but it will really help you.'