News & Blog

Welcome to all, my name is Roy and I have been working in the computer world for many years. I have been asked to put together a brief introduction to installing applications (Apps) on your phone or tablet. If you have any questions regarding the information below – please contact me by email at

Dr Rosie Gibson is a Researcher at the Sleep/Wake Research Centre (Massey University) where she studies sleep changes with ageing and its relationship to health and wellbeing. She is joining Age Concern Wellington to record a short online presentation, giving an overview of sleep, common disruptions and some tips for looking after sleep during the

Listen to Kirsten Blyde speak about Age Concern Wellington volunteers helping elderly people in the community on Pacific Media Network here.

‘It’s frightening’: Some elderly people unaware of lockdown, Age Concern says Read the Dominion Post article here.

Although some banks still accept cheques, NZ banks and government organisations are slowly phasing them out. Kiwibank, ACC, Inland Revenue and NZ Post no longer accept or issue cheques. BNZ announced they aim to phase-out cheques by July 2021 and ANZ have discontinued the use of cheques at the end of May 2021. Westpac and

According to Stats NZ, “the proportion of  the population aged 65+ employed has steadily risen from 11.4% in 2001 to 16.8% in 2006 and 22.1% in 2013”. There is no official retirement age in New Zealand, although eligibility for NZ Superannuation begins at 65. Money doesn’t seem to be the main motivator to keep working

Are our older people prepared for an emergency?  A survey of older people using Age Concern Wellington’s Accredited Visitor service.  Long before we’d heard about Covid-19, Age Concern Wellington ran an emergency preparedness survey: we asked many seniors how well prepared they are for an emergency. In light of the coronavirus pandemic, the survey results

Our Accredited Visitor Service (AVS) has been temporarily adapted to keep people as safe as possible. Rather than volunteers visiting older people, we’re asking our volunteers to phone or even write letters if they wish. Our volunteers should all have received the following information the week of 16 March 2020: Stop face-to-face visits to your

When Helen Carrington, Physiotherapist (Wellington ORA Community Team) gave a talk on Falls for Age Concern Wellington, many of our volunteers were interested to gain her insight. As not everyone was able to attend, here is a summary of the talk. Falls are the most common cause of injury in older people. More than a

Age Concern Wellington has recently come to an agreement with Mahony Horner Lawyers to offer discounted services to our members. To help our clients understand some of the frequently-used legal terms, Siri Nicholas from Mahony Horner Lawyers has written a few lines for us. To benefit from discounted legal services, please become a member of

Age Concern Wellington recently collaborated with Skylight to offer our volunteers a Grief and Loss talk. The presentation was full of useful information, which is summarised here: The mix of thoughts, feelings and reactions we experience when we’re faced with any kind of difficult change or loss is called grief. It is a natural human

Sleep is a basic human right. We all do it, and by the time we’re 65 we will have slept approximately 22 years! But as we get older sleep typically becomes lighter and more fragmented. Many also experience early morning awakenings and increase in daytime sleepiness or napping. This has been related our changing physiology