A free service which provides companionship for elderly people in Limerick is lessening the impact for those isolated in the community following Rosie Hanrahan's murder at the weekend.
Limerick is the first European city to pilot the AgeWell service, which sees elder adults employed to conduct home visits to socially isolated elderly people who contact the providers via a smartphone app.
Maxine Murphy, who uses the service, lives alone and is housebound for long periods due to a medical condition.
Murphy (60), said she found herself in the immediate aftermath of the 78-year-old widow’s murder putting on the house alarm in the middle of the afternoon, “in case anyone came in the windows”.
“I was speaking to a cousin of mine who knew (Rosie) and she was traumatised by it. My cousin is aged in her 80s,” she says. “We were talking about it on the phone last Friday, and by the time we had hung up the phones, both of us had the alarms on in our houses.”
Fearful
Murphy has been fearful for her safety following the murder that has left the city shell-shocked. “It certainly does make you very aware. It’s an absolute tragedy. No woman, nor any human being, deserves to go like (Rosie),” Murphy says.
The app has been piloted for the past nine months is being steered locally by Linda Ledger, chief executive of St Munchin's Community Centre.
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 elders, such as gardaí, HSE staff, and community workers.
Murphy says before using the app, she was simply “coping” with life.
Now her weekly home companion visit and their follow up phone calls have “brought the sunshine back” into her world. “It has taken the loneliness out of life.”
Murphy's cousin Greg Ryan has been working as a companion for 10 isolated local men. Ryan (66), a retired chef, says the work is very rewarding. "I'm way out of my comfort zone but there is immense job satisfaction. The feeling of doing something to help others has been huge for me," he says. There's another benefit. It has improved my physical fitness. I walk everywhere now. I cover a lot of ground."
Part-funding
The pilot has been extended until next March after part-funding was secured from the HSE and Limerick City and County Council.
A Meals on Wheels service, delivering about 800 dinners on an average week, is funded by businessman JP McManus and run by St Munchin’s CC.
Like the Age Well app, the centre and its food delivery service are helping ease the burden on people who may never otherwise receive any other daily human contact.
It is s more than a job for delivery driver Mark O’Connor. “No matter what, I’d go and help them . . . Sundays, whatever. They need help, most of them are on their own,” he says, adding that he has discovered clients either dead or dying alone in their homes in the past.
As he speaks, 155 free Christmas dinners and deserts are being prepared for men and women all over the city. They include turkey and ham with all the trimmings, plus a Black Forest gateaux and a selection box.
O’Connor and his colleagues will be out preparing and delivering more dinners on Christmas Day.
