For seniors, one of the big problems of aging is isolation, especially if they have lost a spouse and family has moved away.

Even though they want to stay in their home, they might need some help – a buddy.

A couple of times a week, Amanda Hickey and her three-year-old son Jaimz stop by Errol Graham's apartment. He’s a Home for Life patient.

“It's something that I cherish,” he says. “I would hate to lose it and I don't think I'll ever find anybody so warm and welcoming as the whole family is.”

Hickey and her son like to show Graham how to play one of their favourite games.

He’s 74 and lives alone in Sunset Village – a seniors’ apartment building in Collingwood.

He does a lot on his own, but his friends like to help whenever they can.

“We like coming over and taking him grocery shopping because we know it would be slippery,” says Hickey. “It's slippery for us to walk on the ground, so we know it would be slippery for him but he could still get his own groceries. We were able to help him do that kind of stuff. So keep some of his independence.”

Graham has arthritis, so it's tough for him to do some things, like change the fitted sheets on his bed.

When Hickey stops by, she'll help with the bedding, and her son will keep Graham company.

“Amanda and Jaimz have just proved to be just wonderful in my life,” he says. “They've given back a lot of life to me.”

Amanda is a volunteer with the Home for Life program, where seniors in the Southern Georgian Bay region are matched with a buddy – or in Graham's case, two buddies.

More than 360 seniors have connected with volunteers through the free program.

“About two years ago, a number of health organizations in the area got together to try to figure out how we could help the senior population,” says Marie Larose with the Georgian Bay Family Health Team. “We have a very large senior population in the Collingwood region.”

There are close to 14,000 seniors living in the Collingwood, Wasaga Beach, and Stayner areas. The goal was to figure out a way to help keep seniors where they're happy: at home and living independently.

The solution? Support and social time.

“Sometimes it's helping them tidy up so they're not tripping, grocery shopping, just a cup of tea, sitting and having a cup of tea that may be what they need to reduce the social isolation,” Larose says.

It's all about spending quality time together but the volunteers are also taught to look for any safety concerns.

“You kind of do an assessment when you come in, and when we saw Errol, everything was fine,” Hickey says. “He had fresh fruit and he was taken care of, it was just kind of clutter so we wanted the space to be more safe for him.”

Graham heard about the program while visiting his doctor one day. He's happy at home, and wants to stay there as long as he can.

“Of all the things in life, independence is probably one of the most precious,” Graham says.

And these regular visits help him maintain that independence.

If he needs anything, even if it's just some company, Hickey and her son will be there.