2019-03-01ReadersDigest_AUNZ

March• 2019 | 63

READER’S DIGEST

name for the phenome-

non of dying alone and

unnoticed at home:

kodokushi.

Countless studies have shown

thatlonelinessisbadforourhealth,

linking social isolation to a range of

problems, from high blood pressure

andaweakenedimmunesystemto

a greater risk of depression, heart

attack and strokes.

OneUSstudysuggestedthatthose

without adequate social interaction

are twice as likely to die prematurely,

makinglonelinessasdangerousas

smoking15cigarettesaday.

“There is robust evidence that

social isolation and loneliness

significantlyincreasetheriskofpre-

maturemortality,”saysProfessor

Julianne Holt-Lunstad, an expert on

the link between social connection

and death.

WHICH BRINGS US BACK TO
Jeanette, Helen and Chris. They’re
all from Frome, a town in south-west
England, which is at the centre of a
health initiative that’s having a re-
markable effect on both isolation and
the health problems associated with it.
The Compassionate Frome project
has established a coordinated on-
line directory of agen-
cies and community
groups,backedupbya
network of volunteers,
to help local residents
find the kind of support
and activities they want.
Anditappearsto
be breaking the fa-
miliar cycle of illness leading to
isolation, which then exacerbates
illness: figures show that emergency
admissions to hospital in the area
have plummeted since the scheme
beganin2013.
“All that we were trying to do was
make our jobs easier, and the care
that we were giving patients better,”
says family doctor Dr Helen King-
ston, sitting in one of the consulting
roomsinFrome’sshinymodernmed-
ical practice.
DrKingstonhasbeenpractising
PHOTOGRAPHED BY SAM FROST in the town for nearly 25 years, but it

Chris attends a

wellbeing session

organised by a

mental health

charityatFrome’s

medical centre