HOPE – The Hope Police Department has established the Senior Citizen Check-in Program – a free service designed to reach out to the ill, elderly or shut-ins living alone in the northeast Bartholomew County community of 2,200 residents.
Participating individuals will be contacted each week by a police officer or dispatcher to check on their well-being, Hope Town Marshal Matt Tallent said.
The check-in program is not only meant to enable seniors living alone to feel more secure, but to also provide them with someone to interact with for a few moments, Tallent said.
Besides law enforcement officers, the Senior Citizen Check-in Program also utilizes relatives or neighbors to check in on participants who are unable to be reached by telephone.
“We are especially wanting to build up this list for cases such as natural disasters, so we have a list of folks that we know we need to check on,” Tallent said.
Anyone who wants to sign up a relative or a loved-one, or want to sign themselves up, are encouraged to do so, the town marshal said.
Almost 60% of residents living below the poverty line in Hope are women without a husband. While the rate is substantially lower for single male households, census figures show 18.2% of low-income men in Hope are disabled, compared to 16.6% for females. Those figures are all above the state average.
Hope Town Council members are unanimously in favor of the program, and offered suggestions such as maintaining an up-to-date record of those who require oxygen tanks.
Council member Clyde Compton suggested that the council set aside $1,000 a month to help those who cannot afford to purchase both food and medication.
That suggestion has been temporarily tabled after it was pointed out that a number of organizations already help the low-income with these needs. Those groups include the Community Center of Hope’s food pantry, the American Red Cross, the Hope Ministerial Association, the Student Fund of Hope and the offices of both the Flat Rock and Haw Creek township trustees.
If such situations are brought to the attention of the Hope Police Department, Tallent said he is willing to contact one of the organizations and ask for their assistance.
For more information regarding the Senior Citizen Check-in Program, contact the Hope police at 812-546-4015.
