St. Joseph’s Hospital is a long-stay residential care home in Trim, which is 6 miles from Summerhill. The Third Age Centre bus travels to St. Joseph’s to bring residents from the home to the Third Age Centre to participate in an ever-expanding array of organised activities such as arts and craft classes, reminiscence sessions, Go for Life activities, Combined Choral Group, concerts and social events. Some residents have also taken part in public representations and raising awareness of issues of concern to the older person, including the Older and Bolder campaign.

The uniqueness of this project lies in the fact that long-stay residents leave the nursing home environment and are brought back into the heart of the community, where they are accompanied by members of TAF. Many of these residents become members of the Third Age Foundation, an additional step of integration in the local community.

TAF offers long-stay residents choice, variety, a change of environment and interaction with the local community. The feedback from long-stay residents about their regular visits to the Third Age Centre is very positive: some older people mentioned that their confidence and self-esteem was boosted immensely as a result of being members of the Foundation, while many mention the increased autonomy and independence they feel by being able to take part in these visits on a regular basis. Participants from St. Josephs viewed their involvement as “great entertainment and a great pastime” and highlight also that their involvement gives them the chance to talk to a variety of different people that they would ordinarily not have been able to meet.

How it started: The TAF Chairperson, Mary Nally, had worked for many years with long-stay resident’s and became very aware of the negative impact the lack of stimulus and social interaction had these people. This project began in 2000, when residents began to visit TAF once a week.