After the three workshops in Gijón, Paris and Funchal, the partners of the AGELESS project, the acronym for its English title ‘Preventing premature ageing through sport and social inclusion’, have drafted and published the two documents that bring together their respective experiences and the most innovative methods for improving the role of actors such as health professionals, sports instructors and family carers in motivating the most vulnerable and disadvantaged people to engage in regular motor activity and physical exercise in order to prevent the risk of premature ageing to which they are exposed. 

The AGELESS project, promoted by Hospitality Europe and financed by the EU at the beginning of 2022, involves the Sisters’ Hospitallers rehabilitation Centre in Madeira, the Pai Menni Centre of the Hospitaller Sisters in Betanzos (Spain), the Order’s Centre in Gijón and two social welfare centres in Paris: the Order’s Lecourbe Centre and the Sisters Hospitallers’ St. Germain house in Paris. 

The handbook and protocol comprise a detailed set of psycho-physical maintenance programmes in which care and rehabilitation activities are accompanied by the promotion of motor activity with exercises and methods customised to suit the health status of the person being cared for. The protocol notably includes practical recommendations for promoting regular and continuous motor activity in care centres, both indoors and outdoors. 

The two documents are available for consultation on the project webpage at https://irmashospitaleiras.pt/agelesspt/