The new AGELESS project has been funded
Hospitality Europe
The European Commission's Education and Culture
Agency has announced the approval of the funding application for the AGELESS
project, the acronym in English for 'Preventing premature ageing through sport
and social inclusion' (AGELESS). The focus of the project is on people with
disabilities and cognitive impairment, who are at greater risk of premature
ageing, and the resulting mental and physical decline and chronic diseases.
This risk has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and in particular by the
restrictions on sports and motor activities in the last two years.
The AGELESS project intends
to address this critical issue and develop a European collaborative venture
between the facilities of the Order and the Hospitaller Sisters of the Sacred
Heart of Jesus in order to identify and promote programmes for maintaining
psychophysical fitness and preventing the risk of premature ageing.
The project will start in
the summer and continue throughout 2023, coordinated by the Sisters
Hospitallers' rehabilitation centre in Funchal, Madeira. The other project
partners are the Pai Menni social-health care centre in Betanzos (Spain) and
the Santa Germana Centre in Paris - both belonging to the Sisters Hospitallers
- together with the Order's multi-sports centre for disabled people in Gijón
and the Lecourbe medical-social facility in Paris.
In addition to the 3
transnational meetings (Gijón, Funchal and Paris), the partners will work
together to publish a guide and a protocol on exercise and motor rehabilitation
programmes for reducing the risk of premature ageing among disabled and
disadvantaged people.
The AGELESS project will therefore contribute
not only to improving the quality of life and the life expectancy of the
beneficiaries, but also to strengthening the European dimension and
interprovincial and inter-Congregational cooperation between the facilities of
the Order and the Sisters Hospitallers.
The AGELESS project has been funded with support from
the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.