Susanne Svenningsen, 56, from Hedensted has quit her job as a florist in Aarhus to start her own business offering practical help and company to elderly people. She previously stepped away from the labor market for eight years to care for her mother.
Avisen Danmark reports that Svenningsen recently resigned from a florist position she had held for six years in a shop in Aarhus. She has instead opened the company Susannes Smil, which sells practical assistance and companionship to older people.
The services include cleaning and gardening, but also shopping and simple conversation. Per Svenningsen, the hope is that adult children and other relatives can be relieved of some practical tasks, and perhaps also of a guilty conscience. That would leave them free to drink a cup of coffee together or go for a drive.
Eight years away from work
The idea grew out of her own family history. Her father died, and a year later her mother suffered a blood clot in the brain that left her disabled and dependent on daily help. Svenningsen was working as a travel consultant at the time, and her own children were three and six years old.
She went to her mother’s home in Hedensted almost every day to shop and handle practical matters. Some tasks were very basic, such as defrosting a freezer her mother had forgotten to close after the stroke. According to Svenningsen, her mother also received municipal help, but it was nowhere near enough.
Her sister assisted when she could, yet the arrangement remained difficult. As stated by Svenningsen, a rotating group of home helpers arrived, they were not always on time, and her mother was sometimes forgotten. Many things did not work well, she told the outlet.
She eventually resigned from her job to free up time for her mother and for her own young family. The decision cost the household one income. As reported by Avisen Danmark, the family dropped foreign holidays and expensive clothes, but Svenningsen was surprised by how little the change was felt.
What began with a family in crisis ended with eight years without ordinary employment. During that period she did some freelance work and was active in the local gymnastics association. She describes the circumstances as terrible, but the decision as the best she has ever made.
Svenningsen’s mother died about 10 years ago at the age of 72, and her own children are now adults. She says several of her friends are now in the situation she was once in, with old or sick parents needing help alongside work and family life. That is what prompted her to revisit the old idea and register her own business.
