Social interaction and job satisfaction are just two of the benefits of being a volunteer according to one septuagenarian.
Eileen Welles made the decision to become a Tauranga Hospital volunteer 18 months ago and, as National Volunteer Week is celebrated this week, says she would encourage others to do the same.
"I had retired and after about six months I was absolutely bored to death," said the former soft furnishings manufacturer. "I was 68 at the time.
"Then I got a phonecall from my sister Kathleen one day, and she said she couldn't talk for long because she was working that day as a volunteer at her local hospital. She had been a radiographer but carried on volunteering after she retired. I thought that sounds good."
Ms Welles contacted Volunteer Coordinator Lesley Grant and she now volunteers as a hospital guide three mornings a week. The 70-year-old directs patients and visitors from her station outside the lifts on Tauranga Hospital's second floor.