Dedicated carer wins elder of the year award

Every day, in the early hours of the morning, a familiar face walks into the Marina Palace home for the elderly in Msida, bringing care and companionship to the residents.

Maria Zammit Gallo, this year's Anzjana tas-Sena (elderly person of the year) visits this home every day and tends to the residents' needs.

She takes care of Holy Communion for bedridden residents, helps them eat and even sleeps over when they're ill and in need of company.

When one of her friends is ill and alone, they can trust Ms Zammit Gallo to host them at her house and take care of them.

Never one to stay still, the 74-year-old also takes her peers to village feasts, organises cultural outings, coffee mornings and lectures. She is also part of the Legion of Mary and the Msida Parish Council.

Speaking at the Anzjan tas-Sena award ceremony, Parliamentary Secretary Mario Galea emphasised the important role of elderly people in society, saying that our identity was intrinsically tied to them and lauding them as "guardians and bearers of values and traditions that made and distinguished us as a people and a nation".

He also mentioned various projects aimed at the elderly, including the new wards for residents with dementia at St Vincent de Paul home, the night shelter which is going to be opened in Żejtun in conjunction with the Catholic Church, and the outreach team which he hoped would start functioning soon.

"To all the elderly in Malta and Gozo - you were entrusted with a difficult task. Not only have you accomplished it, but you came out as mustaċċuni (you did a great job)," Dr Galea concluded.