AgeWell Service: Volunteers help fight isolation

Limerick is the first European city to pilot the AgeWell service which sees mature adults volunteering to conduct home visits to socially isolated elderly people.

Limerick is the first European city to pilot the AgeWell service which sees mature adults volunteering to conduct home visits to socially isolated elderly people. It has been running for ten months and has already had great success in combating loneliness, spotting dangers — as simple as torn carpets or clutter or the absence of smoke alarms — and keeping people out of hospitals.

Subsidised by AgeWell Global, brainchild of Dr Mitch Besser, husband of singer Annie Lennox, it is currently free to users who are referred by those working with the elderly, such as gardaí, HSE staff, and community workers.