Call at 0030 801 110 2822 or 0030 28220 23717

Need for the Elderly Help-Line

This year, the Annousakeio Therapeutic Centre created a new, dynamic and pioneering service aimed mainly to offer psychological support to elderly people but also to their family by providing them with a secure, comfortable and confidential environment.

The Elderly Help-Line, in order to provide psychological support both to the elderly and the people around them, is open to everyone. Every call is received with love by someone who will listen them. In accordance to the fundamental beliefs with which the Annousakeio Therapeutic Centre operates, we help the elderly improve the quality of their life with a humane but at the same time responsible and scientific way, so that our senior citizens are not abandoned by our society.

Background

The Annousakeio Therapeutic Centre’s activities have already diversified to provide care and support to everyone who needs it. The Help Line was a welcome expansion of the work that it has been executing for years.

Many Help-Lines referred to in the international bibliography offer support to elderly individuals and to the general population. Over time, those Lines grew to a national level because of the importance of what they offer (MacMaster, Goldenberg, Beynon & Iwasiw, 1999; Morgan, 1998; Morrow-Howell, Hinterlong, Rozario & Tang, 2003; Newman, Vasudef & Onawola, 1985; Thoits & Hewitt, 2001; Wheeler & Gorey, 1998).

The Elderly Help-Line began to operate because of the continuously increasing need of the elderly who are socially isolated, living alone in their homes without having someone to talk to, someone to consult, someone to listen. Our motivation is not pity. Given the fact that there is no substitute for human warmth and human contact, and continuing the Annousakeio humanitarian objective, this strategy aims not to leave our elderly abandoned and excluded from modern society.

The Elderly Help-Line offers suitable emotional and psychological help to elderly citizens that face various problems and a reliable and high quality service to all who use it.

[ Κατέβασμα/Προβολή fyladio_1.pdf ]

Aims of the Elderly Help-Line:

1.To listen and offer encouragement and respond to everyone who needs emotional support.

2.To help individuals who feel lonely or isolated and to give them the chance to talk about the problems or difficulties they may face.

3.To feel secure that we support them, showing respect for their personality, their individuality and their needs .

4.To pinpoint the needs of those who belong to the sensitive senior citizen age groups and take measures to fulfil those needs.

5.To promote primary health prevention through concrete predetermined objectives, such as the encouragement for the reduction of smoking, the vaccination of the sensitive population and the improvement of the health of the population.

6.To inform: The Line allocates an information pack regarding social and other useful services and can provide addresses and telephone numbers to those who call.

7.To provide information to other supporting teams, services and advisers.

8.Continuing support, education and development for our staff and the operators of the Help-Line.

Our aim is to make the caller feel better after talking with us.

Can help truly be given by telephone?

The answer is yes, because a person thinks in the same way whether he or she is talking on the phone or not. We don’t necessarily always need to see a person’s body language in order to understand their problems and their objectives.

Telephone contact can provide a number of advantages.

a. Accessibility: Elderly persons have easy access to the Help Line wherever they reside.

b. Ease: Those who have physical disabilities don’t need to travel in order to find someone that can help them. This method offers elasticity in communication.

c. Trust: Confidentiality and personal safety of the individual is ensured. This is particularly important to some people. Issues such as social criticism or the difficulty in setting an appointment does not exist in this kind of communication. Via telephone, the individual can control the confidentiality and safeguard the privacy of their environment.

d. Effectiveness: The effectiveness of telephone contact is equal to that of the personal contact.

Limitations

Telephone communication requires that the individual is able to hear well and speak clearly. The elderly that have hearing or speech impairments would thus benefit more from personal contact. Also, telephone contact requires that the individual speaks the same language as that of the counsellor.

What Elderly Help-Line can offer?

The Line can provide support and encouragement to those who feel lonely and isolated, disappointed or stressed, as well as those who simply want to discuss whatever is bothering them.

The Help-Line can, in addition to providing emotional support, function as an advocator of the rights of the elderly and as the liaison that informs and helps them in legal matters, rights or benefits that concern them (European proclamations, human rights, etc).

Privacy

Privacy is fundamental for the operation of the Line and is a given in any case since personal data is not collected.

Our Team

The Line is staffed by a Psychologist that provides advice and information to the individuals who call. At the same time, help is also provided by various professionals that work at or collaborate with the Therapeutic Centre.

Operating hours

The Line operates weekday evenings.

Cost of the service

The Line is a non-profit service. The cost of a call, regardless of its duration, is one urban unit per call via the telephone number 0030 801 110 2822 or a simple cost via the number 0030 28220 23717 (for calls made through mobile phones). In a case of emergency, the caller can request that we call him/her back.

Co-operators

The effective operation of the Elderly Help-Line is ensured by its interconnection with other public services, institutions, or organisms that supports our action:

Regional Health Centre, Regional Rural Centres, Hospital of Chania, Mental Health Centre of Chania, “Theoharideio Counselling Centre-Help-Line”, Municipality of Kisamos, etc.

[ Κατέβασμα/Προβολή grammi_tilefonikis_simparastasis_ilikiomenon_1.pdf ]