Trumbull program to aid elderly avoid scams

By Ed Runyan

The program’s goal is to help older citizens live independently.

WARREN — The Trumbull County Sheriff’s Department plans to start a new program Feb. 26 that will help protect senior citizens who live outside the cities from being crime victims and link them with other services.

Don Guarino, chief of operations for the department, said two coordinators, each working 20 hours per week, will help seniors by educating them on scams such as unnecessary roof repairs.

The two coordinators, who will work various hours including nights and weekends, will make $12 per hour to start.

Their salaries and other costs, such as advertisements providing information to seniors, will come from a $50,000 allocation county commissioners are expected to approve this week.

The money will come from funds collected by the seniors levy approved by voters in November 2005.

Lisa Solley, spokeswoman for the Area Agency on Aging 11, which oversees the spending of the levy money for the county commissioners, said Trumbull County will be the first county in the agency’s four-county district to formulate such a neighboring program.

The program will serve people 60 and older.

The coordinators will have access to information on about 300 county seniors who participate in a state program called PASSPORT, which provides long-term care at home and in nursing homes and is overseen by the agency, Solley said.

The information will help law enforcement officers know about any conditions an individual may have, such as old age or life-threatening conditions.

PASSPORT will ask its clients what information they want to give to the database before that information is made available, Solley said.

Information gathered by the coordinators when they begin to make their weekly visits to senior citizens also will be included in the database, Solley said, adding that the information also will be useful in the event of a disaster.

The information will then be available to the county 911 call center in Howland, which serves most of the northern part of the county but not Warren, Liberty, Girard, Newton Falls, Niles, Weathersfield, Hubbard City, Lordstown and Warren Township, which have their own dispatching centers.

The coordinators will work in all of the areas served by the sheriff’s department — all areas outside the cities.

The program also will make it possible for newspaper carriers or other service providers such as mail carriers to carry a card with useful information such as a phone number to call in case an elderly person is not seen for a certain amount of time or if the person shows signs of having difficulties.

“The program will allow safety forces to link with social services to keep older adults safe and living independently in the community,” Solley said.

Guarino said one of the coordinators to be hired has a law-enforcement background, and the other is more versed in community services.

There have been examples of elderly people who were victimized in recent months in areas such as Kinsman, Bristol and Johnston, Guarino said. “Our overall goal is to reduce the vulnerability of senior citizens living alone or with a spouse by providing periodic visits or services,” Guarino said. “It’s something that’s never been done in Trumbull County.”

runyan@vindy.com