A Dutch company that normally supplies portal cabins to festivals for music enthusiasts to sleep is supplying them to nursing homes so that residents can meet relatives in a safe space.
Joe Davies reports.
Care home residents using festival cabins to meet relatives
Nursing homes in many countries have had to close to visitors in recent weeks, meaning a sense of loneliness for residents.
But a Dutch company that normally provides portable cabin rooms for festival goers has come up with a solution - sending them to care homes instead, to provide a safe space for elderly people to meet relatives.
Mien Verhees lives at a nursing home near Eindhoven.
The 76-year-old wasn't able to see her sister Anneke for five weeks.
But now they can catch up, separated by a plexiglas window making it safe to do so.
Mariska Slegers is the manager of the nursing home.
(SOUNDBITE) (Dutch) MANAGER OF THE HOF VAN BLUYSSEN NURSING HOME, MARISKA SLEGERS, SAYING: "We are a nursing and care house, where people live with dementia, and people that need physical help.
Since the corona(virus) crisis we had to close our doors for visitors, people have already for several weeks not been able to receive visitors and we noticed that this will take its toll, people are getting restless." The company that owns the cabins - Flexotels - says there's not a lot of money to be made in switching their business model for the time being.
But manager Hans Van Keulen says it'll help keep the company going in the meantime - and they're happy to help make a difference to people's lives.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) COMMERCIAL MANAGER FOR FLEXOTELS, HANS VAN KEULEN, SAYING: "The first one we have placed is at a nursing home for elderly people and it's a big hit, they are very happy with the solution we offered, it's safe, it's convenient, they can have 15 appointments on a day so we are making a lot of people happy." For those benefiting from their switch in focus, nothing quite beats the kind of human contact they're used to.
But it's better than not seeing loved ones at all.