Be your neighbor’s keeper

Be your neighbor’s keeper

It is a rare Sunday when we get to write two editorials about things working out the way they are supposed to. Today is such a day.

The editorial above discussed improvements being made in countywide bus service. This one reacts to a story in Saturday’s Vindicator about how a concerned neighbor and conscientious public servants responded to the life-threatening circumstances of an elderly Boardman woman.

The plight of the 91-year-old woman was first called to the attention of Adult Protective Services, an arm of Job and Family Services, by a concerned neighbor. Thursday, a social worker discovered the woman in an unheated mobile home where the temperature was below freezing. Boardman police and an ambulance crew responded and the woman was hospitalized.

Changing times

We live in an area where the population is aging and from which younger generations have moved. The result is that an increasing number of elderly men and women are living alone and at risk. The results can be tragic.

Some communities are responding more quickly than others, establishing outreach programs that identify people who are potentially at risk. And many communities in Ohio, including Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties, have adopted 211 as an easy-to-remember three digit phone number that will put a caller in connection with a local agency, such as Help Hotline.

It is important for government agencies to do what they can, but in these days of ever-tightening budgets, everyone has a role to play. People should keep an eye on their neighbors, especially elderly neighbors, and watch for signs that something might not be right — papers piling up, a trash can left at the curb too long (or missing on collection day), a change in the pattern of lighting in the house. Give an at-risk neighbor your phone number, and encourage him or her to call if they need help.

Neighborhoods aren’t as close as they once were, and being a good neighbor doesn’t come as easily. But a little extra effort could be a life-saver.