05-05-2025
A Sligo community's innovative approach to health and well-being is praised
It is Ireland's first community-inspired and community-run hub based on the Hello GoodLife model.
Building on the success of the commercially-run and well-established Hello GoodLife hubs in Castlebar and Roscommon, the Bunninadden hub is the first to be entirely operated by a local community group, now running the facility as a social enterprise in service of public health and wellbeing.
Funded through the LEADER rural development programme, the initiative represents a new direction in preventative, place-based healthcare.
Designed by Martina Calvey, CEO and founder of Hello GoodLife Health & Wellbeing Ireland alongside her partner Seamus Davitt, the hub offers a dedicated, inclusive space for holistic health featuring 14 power-assisted exercise machines — including two specially designed for wheelchair users.
It provides an accessible and safe environment for people of all ages and abilities to stay active, maintain independence and foster meaningful social connections.
Minister Carroll MacNeill hailed the project as a shining example of community-driven innovation.
'What we see today in Bunninadden is a shining example of what can be achieved when community spirit meets collaboration and innovation. 'The Hello GoodLife Hub is not only helping people live longer, healthier lives, it's giving them the ability to thrive. This model is a blueprint for communities across the country.'
The Hello GoodLife concept is rooted in accessibility, inclusion and community engagement.
The Bunninadden hub, in particular, showcases what's possible when local people unite to support each other's wellbeing — with mature and older adults, those living with chronic conditions and people of all ages simply seeking to stay active all benefiting from its presence.
Hello GoodLife CEO, Martina Calvey, said: 'We created Hello GoodLife with people's physical, social and mental health in mind following my own personal journey through illness and having used Innerva's power-assisted circuit.
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'What the Bunninadden community have achieved here is extraordinary — they took this idea and brought it to life for their people and their place.
'Seeing the smiles, the energy and the friendships being formed here every day — this is what it's all about. It's a movement for healthier, happier lives.'
Already hailed as a national exemplar of best practice in community-led preventative healthcare, the Hello GoodLife Health & Wellbeing Hub in Bunninadden marks the next exciting step in a growing movement across Ireland — driven by local passion, powered by partnership and built for the health and wellbeing of all.
