Retired deputy now patrols a different beat, helping senior citizens

By Ed Runyan

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Don Hyde met a lot of Trumbull County residents during his 35 years as a deputy and detective with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office — experiences that help him now in his part-time job as coordinator of the Trumbull County Senior Service Unit.

Sheriff Tom Altiere and the county commissioners started the unit in 2009 to provide a vulnerable population with extra help when they are being victimized or having trouble finding services to help them stay in their homes.

Hyde said his work as a police officer showed him that this generation of senior citizens — especially those in the more rural parts of northern Trumbull County — are “very proud, very independent” and don’t accept help very easily.

“They think they don’t need help,” Hyde said.

But such people sometimes come to the attention of the local fire department or police when they have an accident or health scare that results in an ambulance call, he said.

In rural areas especially, the fire department is composed of neighbors and friends who take a personal interest when they respond to a residence and find a senior citizen who needs more than medical attention.

So sometimes Hyde gets a call from the fire department alerting him to the needs of people they have encountered during ambulance runs or welfare checks. Hyde recalls times when he saw these needs when he was with the sheriff’s office.

Officers sometimes get involved in assisting senior citizens as part of their duties, but Hyde said he never realized how many challenges senior citizens face until he was hired in September to restart the senior services unit.

The unit was inactive for a few months after losing the two people who staffed it in the beginning — Nicole Agani and Sonny Schuyler. Agani got a different job, and Schuyler died in March.

“This has been a real eye opener for me,” Hyde said.

The list of concerns for senior citizens is nearly limitless — unsafe or unhealthy conditions in the home, health problems, poor nutrition, lack of access to information or services, snow removal and scams, to name a few.

The phone number for the Senior Service Unit is 330-675-7096.

In some cases, Hyde has been able to help directly, like arranging snow removal by a supervised group of Trumbull County jail inmates or advising them after they have been victimized by scam artists.

When it comes to matters involving programs such as Medicaid or Medicare, he directs the senior citizen to agencies that can help, such as Area Agency on Aging 11. If they need meals, he refers them to the Trumbull County Office of Elderly Affairs.

“I just try to guide them to the services,” Hyde said. “There’s a lot of good agencies out there that people don’t realize are out there,” he said.

In addition to referrals, Hyde also gives presentations at health fairs and safety nights in churches and other locations. One of the things that is stressed is fraud against senior citizens, to help prevent them from being victims.

Karen Saker, nutrition project coordinator for the Office of Elderly Affairs, who supervises Hyde’s work, said Hyde’s experience with victimization of senior citizens is one reason he was hired.

“I’m learning all the time the new frauds,” he said. “There’s so much out there.”