The most recent edition of the The Irish Farmers Journal looks at the potential of technology in reducing fear for older people, particularly those living alone. The article highlights the local support within rural communities for the Seniors Alert Scheme which provides government funded monitored alarms for older people, along with one years monitoring, which is also grant aided for those aged 65 or over.

The write up, which appears in the Irish Farmers Journal’s, Irish County Living Magazine, includes an interview with Frank Fleming, Chairperson of Fingal Community Alert (pictured above). Frank explained to Irish County Living Editor, Mairead Lavery, how after having suffering a stroke, aged 60, he became more aware of the importance of personal alarms for older people and purchased one for himself. He now accepts applications from many others aged 65 or over, for the Seniors Alert Scheme, Pobal funded alarms

The high number of reassurance calls coming into telecare monitoring centres was highlighted by Ronan Bunting, Head of Operations at Ireland’s longest established telecare company, TASK Community Care [Editors note: TASK is also Sponsor of Telecare.ie].

Ronan Bunting, Head of Operations, TASK Community Care, highlighted the high number of telecare reassurance calls

Irish County Living Editor, Mairead Lavery visited TASK’s control centre in County Meath, to gain a better understanding of TASK’s 24-hour monitoring service. TASK supports tens of thousands of older people throughout Ireland and the UK, with personal alarms and telecare equipment and services.

TASK’S MULTI-PROTOCOL  24-HOUR MONITORING CENTRE IN COUNTY MEATH, IRELAND

Ronan explained that the already high number of reassurance calls from older people to the TASK monitoring centre, increased dramatically during the recent storms. He also said, “If there’s a worrying story on the Six One News we get a spike in calls…When [older people] hear about a bogus caller or read about an attack, it makes them very anxious and they need to make those “reassurance” calls”.

If there’s a worrying story on the Six One News we get a spike in calls…When [older people] hear about a bogus caller or read about an attack, it makes them very anxious and they need to make those “reassurance” calls

The benefits of community text alert schemes were also noted by Irish County Living Magazine, as was the Department of Justice grant aided CCTV scheme, a part-funded scheme for local organisations “towards meeting the capital costs associated with the establishment of local community CCTV systems”.

Read more: Irish County Living Magazine | Can Technology Tackle The Fear Of Living Alone For Older People

See also: Telecare.ie | Bogus Caller Button Page

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