Telecare offers valuable service to area residents living alone

Every weekday between 7:30 and 10 a.m., they sit side by side in the Wing Park building in Bangor and telephone all the people on their call lists. No, they’re not telemarketers, but dedicated volunteers with Telecare, a program of Rosscare.

For 25 years, this free service has been providing telephone contact to those who live alone in Greater Bangor seven days a week until recently, when the program had to cut back to just weekdays because of a lack of volunteers. While the service is available to anyone, it’s most often utilized by elderly.

“When you’re alone, it’s nice to have someone just check on you because anything unexpected can happen, such as a heart attack or a fall,” said Cindy Smith, coordinator of Rosscare Eldercare.

Not to mention loneliness.

“There are those people who don’t get a call from anybody,” said Leila Day, who has volunteered with Telecare for more than 10 years. “The people are such a lift. I don’t know who is getting more out of this – me or the participant. I feel needed.”

While Telecare is basically a check-in service, some of the participants and volunteers have become friends and look forward to speaking with each other.

“There was a woman who had a lot of health problems, but I never hung up from her without laughing,” said Day.

“They talk about everything, but usually it’s just the niceties of life such as ‘How are you today?’ and ‘Do you have any plans for today?'” said Smith. “Some of the participants and volunteers get very close and talk about special happenings like family reunions or weddings.”

Some folks are very chatty, she added, while others offer a quick, “I’m fine, thanks for calling,” and are off to other things.

An answering machine is available so participants may call in and report that they’re fine if they wish not to be called on a given day or will be away. This prevents the volunteer from becoming alarmed if a call is made and there’s no answer.

“Sometimes people have a doctor’s appointment or get to go out for breakfast,” said Smith. “We would never want someone to stay home if they have the chance to go out. By the same token, if there is no message and the participant is unreachable, we jump into action.”

The action consists of calling the people that participants have designated as “emergency contacts” – usually family who live nearby or neighbors. If no one on the contact sheet can be reached, the Telecare volunteer notifies the police, who will then go to the person’s home for a “well check,” said Smith.

“This is such a wonderful program,” she added. “It’s great to have a friendly voice on the other end of the line in the morning. It is such a great way to start the day.”

For the volunteers as well.

“They really love what they do. But they say to me all the time, ‘I wish we had more people to call,’ and we’d love to serve more people,” said Smith. “It’s so easy to sign up. We will set you up over the phone. It’s just so nice to hear, ‘Good morning, how are you today?’ We even send a card to the participants every spring with the pictures of the volunteers. We really care and that can make all the difference.”

For everyone involved.

“Some people say, ‘You’ve really made my day,'” said Day. “And there is not a day that I go in [to volunteer] that I don’t come out feeling better myself.”

For information on Telecare or volunteering, call Smith at Rosscare at 973-7094.

Carol Higgins is director of communications at Eastern Agency on Aging. For information on EAA, call 941-2865, log on www.eaaa.org, or e-mail info@eaaa.org.