Legal Brief with Alan Tate of Harris Tate www.harristate.co.nz

Age Concern offers a very valuable service to elderly people in Tauranga.

Many elderly people become increasingly isolated and lonely as friends and relations move on or die.

The result is that they get very few people calling to see them.

That lack of contact also makes them more vulnerable to people who knock on their door seeking to take advantage of them by overcharging them for a service or some other scam.

Age Concern runs an Accredited Visiting Service.

This service matches volunteer visitors with elderly people who have contacted Age Concern to say that they would like some more company.

The purpose of those visits is to simply sit and talk with the elderly person so that they can share experiences, friendship, ideas and opinions.

The volunteer visitor's role is not to help with shopping or household tasks.

The volunteer visitors are approved by Age Concern and then matched with someone who has requested the service.

Age Concern keeps in contact with both the visitor and the person being visited.

The result is a rewarding experience for both.

Anyone interested in volunteering as a visitor, having a visitor to call or who knows someone who might benefit on having a visitor to call, can phone Age Concern's accredited visiting service coordinator Andrea Billingsley on 578 2631.

There is also further information about the visiting service at www.ageconcern.org.nz