Dateline: December 12, 2002

Call system will benefit senior citizens

By Carrie Helms, Clarendon Enterprise

A new service being set up in Donley County will provide a valuable service to elderly residents and shut-ins, according to Judge Jack Hall.

The “Are You Okay?” system is currently being set up through the Donley County Sheriff’s Department. Once established, residents who request the service will be called daily by a computer to check on their well being.

Senior citizens, shut-ins, or the parents of latchkey children can choose the time of day the computer will call. If there is no answer, the computer will call back. If there is still no answer or the person picks up the phone but does not speak, the computer system will alert the dispatcher at the sheriff’s office.

“I think this will benefit senior citizens and homebound residents in our county,” Hall said. “It will be an extra method for them to have contact with EMS and medical personnel, and it will be added assurance and piece of mind to them and their families.”

Hall found out about the “Are You Okay?” service during a meeting of the Northern Rolling Plains Resource Conservation & Development (NRPRCD) board this summer. Perryton Police Chief Bobby W. Maness gave a presentation on the program at that meeting.

“[Chief Maness] from Perryton has said he will come down here and help us get it set up,” Hall said.

The computer, which will be located at the sheriff’s office, is on order as is the software, which is produced by Northland Innovation Corp. in Minneapolis, Minn.  None of the equipment or software will be paid for with local tax dollars.

The computer equipment is being purchased through the TIF grant, which was awarded to the Donley County Community Network earlier this year. Clarendon College is serving as the fiscal agent for the TIF grant. The county had to come up with $408 for the match on its share of the grant, but that amount was more than covered by a supplemental grant from the NRPRCD in the amount of $500.

The “Are You Okay?” software will be paid for by a $3,500 grant from the David & Nora Payne Foundation in Pampa.

“This isn’t going to cost us anything other than the time and a little bit of effort,” Hall said.

When the system becomes operational early next year, Donley County will be one of only a few Panhandle communities to provide the service. Hall said the only communities in our area that he knows are currently providing the service are Perryton, Dalhart, Hereford, and Plainview.

Hall credited Sheriff Butch Blackburn for helping bring the new system to Donley County.

“The sheriff and his willingness to work with this program is what has made this possible,” Hall said.

More information about the “Are You Okay?” system will be published when the system becomes operational early next year.