Winner: Déise Day Centre, Dungarvan, Co Waterford

Summary:

Déise Day Centre is a “home away from home” for people aged 65 years and over providing a safe environment where members can meet and join in social and therapeutic activities. The Centre has an excellent team of trained, caring and trusting people delivering services. The Centre provides hot nutritious meals and dessert, cooked daily in-house, at a reasonable cost and delivered to housebound members. Many daily activities and services are provided keeping members active and engaged e.g. Yoga, Oil Painting, Singing, Music & Dance and lots more. The Centre administers the Senior Alerts Scheme, a panic button system for elderly people in their homes. Allied to this is a Care and Repair service. In 2018, `Saoirse`, a trishaw bicycle, was acquired in association with Waterford Sports Partnership. This is operated by trained volunteers, who come to the Centre and give members spins around the town and on the Waterford Greenway

Community Contact: Kevin Moynihan, [email protected]

Citation:

As regards the winners the judges were particularly impressed by the sense of shared happiness and enjoyment that emanated from those who were cared for and those who cared for them. The empathy and commitment were palpable. Here is a very fine team of staff and volunteers delivering a home from home environment. This is a superb example of a community project that is dynamic, extremely well managed, provides an invaluable range of services and constantly looks for new and better ways in which activities can be expanded.

Runners Up: Cavan Branch Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Cavan, and Mayo Age Friendly Intergenerational Programme.