ARE YOU OK?

So, you left home, at last? Congrats! But, Mom and Dad still rattling around in the old place? 

Working and can’t be home when the kid gets back from school?  

Need to be reminded to take a medication?  

These are classic worrying situations aren’t they?  Well, the Are You OK^™ (RUOK^™) telephone reassurance program can help and it is available to seniors and others living in the Greater Hillsborough Senior Services area.

The RUOK^™ program was developed as a public service project for an Iowa police department in the mid 1980’s. The program enabled seniors who were living alone to respond to a daily, computer-generated phone call, thereby ensuring that they were, well,  OK. The sheriff’s department credited the alerts triggered by the system with saving the lives of several senior citizens.  Since then the system has been adopted in many towns in the USA. At the urging of the Greater Hillsborough Senior Services board of directors the Hillsborough Police department purchased the RUOK^™ software and a dedicated phone line for Hillsborough area seniors in 2015.

It is easy to get into the program.  All you do is submit some basic information about yourself, including emergency contacts, next of kin, doctor and clergy, to Hillsborough or Deering police departments. A form is available here or at either of the police departments, at GHSS Senior Lunches, in the GHSS newsletter, Senior Moments!, or you can download a copy from the GHSS Blog spot under the 'Documents and Minutes' tab (http://greaterhillsboroughseniors.blogspot.com/). Once you’ve done that, you will receive a computer-generated phone call at the time, or times, that you designated. You will be asked to press a randomly selected number on your telephone key-pad to ensure that whomever answers the phone is a live person. If you fail to respond to the call after three attempts, the police will be alerted to come to your address and simultaneously contact your emergency contact, who probably will be somebody living nearby. You can schedule more than one call in a day. For example, a morning call to ensure your security and one or more calls throughout the day to remind you to take your pills. A working parent can set up a call at home at a designated time that their child must answer.  And, according to company information (http://www.ruok.com/) you can schedule a call for your birthday! You can also suspend calls for times when you are not going to be at home.

RUOK^™ is available to all seniors and others living in the Greater Hillsborough Senior Services area (Antrim, Bennington, Deering,  Henniker, Hillsborough, Washington, Warner, Weare, Windsor). According to Chief Roarick, of Hillsborough PD, while only Hillsborough and Deering are formally ‘on board’ with the program, there will be no difficulties for residents of the other towns. There is no cost for subscribers to RUOK^™. 

RUOK^™ is not a medical alert system. It cannot be used for acute medical or other emergencies. It can, however, lead to medical or other service.

The RUOK^™ telephone reassurance program is a tool that can bring ‘peace of mind’ and reassurance to seniors living alone. It eases the concern of friends and family who may find it difficult to maintain consistent, reliable contact with them.  GHSS hopes that our area seniors will take advantage of this great, free program!