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Boardman officials debut new senior citizen check-in program
BOARDMAN
Township Police Chief Jack Nichols remembers an incident in the dead of winter when some of his officers happened upon a tragic scene: the body of an elderly man buried beneath a pile of snow in front of his own house.
The man had gone outside to get something, slipped and fell, and without anyone around to help him, had died there. For days, no one noticed because of the snow; calls came in when neighbors saw newspapers piling up.
Township officials hope to prevent similar situations from happening in the future, and at a news conference Wednesday they debuted the Care Call program to accomplish that goal.
“A few years ago when the township passed a police levy, one of the goals was to pay extra attention to some at-risk populations. One of those at-risk populations in this community are the elderly,” Nichols said.
“Often our officers or the fire department goes to the residence and finds that they’ve fallen, or become ill, or are in some type of distress and often they lay there for hours or even days before help comes.”
His department receives two to three calls each week with requests to check on elderly residents, he said.
The Care Call program will send out automated calls each day, or on the days and times that the participant chooses, and will ask the individual to press a button to indicate that they are OK. If the call goes unanswered, a call goes out to a designated contact person.
“If the system can’t contact a friend, neighbor or family member, it automatically generates a call where a police car will be dispatched to their residence to check on their welfare,” Nichols said.
“If once we get there, they’re in medical distress of some type, we would summon the fire department to come as first-medical responders and render aid to the person.”
The service is free to those who enroll, and Nichols said it does not cost taxpayers any money.
The funds for the computer system came from money seized during drug busts, and advertising costs are covered by funds from the cable franchise fee.
In the future, township officials plan to add a component to the program that will ensure police officers and firefighters do not cause damage to residents’ homes if they have to force entry.
They would like to get lock boxes for participants so that responders could enter a code to gain entry into homes.
They also would like to get buttons that participants can wear and press when calls come in so they don’t have to get up to answer the phone.
Sign-up for the program now is open through the end of the year. Calls are slated to begin Jan. 1.
For information or to obtain enrollment forms, visit www.boardmantwp.com/police, stop by the police department at 8299 Market St. or call 330-729-2014.