On 15 and 16 March, the Saint John of God Foundation's Lecourbe Health and Social Care Centre in Paris played host to the second workshop of the European AGELESS project, for 'preventing premature ageing through sport and social inclusion'.  The focus of the project is on vulnerable people – with intellectual disabilities or neurocognitive decline – who are the most exposed to the risk of premature ageing, the resultant psycho-physical decline, and chronic diseases. This risk was further exacerbated after the Covid-19 pandemic and in particular after the lockdowns and restrictions on sports and motor activities over more than two years.

The AGELESS project sets out to address this critical factor by implementing a European collaboration venture between the facilities of the Order and the Sisters Hospitallers of the Sacred Heart of Jesus tasked with identifying and promoting the best programmes for people's psycho-physical wellbeing and preventing the risk of premature ageing.

The project is being coordinated by the Sisters Hospitallers' Rehabilitation Centre in Funchal on the island of Madeira. The other project partners are the Pai Menni Health and Social Care Centre in Betanzos (Spain) and the Santa Germana Centre in Paris – both belonging to the Sisters Hospitallers – together with the multi-sports Centre for people with disabilities at the Order's Centre in Gijón, and the Lecourbe Health And Social Care Centre in Paris.

At the Paris workshop, the partners offered digital and video presentations to illustrate their respective rehabilitation and motor maintenance programmes being implemented both inside their centres, and outside in public and private sports facilities, debating the psycho-physical beneficial impacts on their users and on the ageing process of vulnerable people.

The participants also had the chance to visit the Order's and Sisters Hospitallers' centres in Paris and to meet a few French athletes practising Paralympic disciplines, including Yannick Ifebe, a former resident of the St John of God Centre in Rue Lecourbe.

The third and final workshop of the AGELESS project will be held at the end of May at the Sisters Hospitallers' Rehabilitation Centre in Funchal on the island of Madeira, and will also be attended by people with disabilities who practise sports and motor activities in the participating centres. For more information on the AGELESS project, please visit https://irmashospitaleiras.pt/agelesspt/

The AGELESS project has been funded with support from the European  Commission.