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Από Elderly Help-Line
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.
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 ]
References
MacMaster, E., Goldenberg, D., Beynon, C., Iwasiw, C. (1999). Health
information telephone service for seniors, Can. Nurse., 95 (3), 38-41
Morgan, M. (1998). An Evaluation of a New Service Aimed at Isolated and
Lonely Older People. North-Eastern Health Board
Morrow-Howell, N. Hinterlong, J., Rozario, P.A. and Tang, F. (2003). The
Effects of Volunteering on the Well-Being of Older Adults. Journals of
Gerontology, Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 58 pp
S137-S145
Newman, S., Vasudef, J. & Onawola, R. (1985). Older Volunteers’
Perceptions of Impacts of Volunteering on Their Psychological Well-Being,
Journal of Applied Gerontology, 4 (2), pp 123–127
Thoits, P.A. and Hewitt, L.N. (2001). Volunteer Work and Well-Being.
Journal of Health and Social Behaviour, 42, pp 115-131.
Wheeler, J.A. and Gorey, K.M. (1998). The Beneficial Effects of Volunteering
for Older Volunteers and the People They Serve: A Meta-Analysis. International
Journal of Aging and Human Development, 47(1) pp. 69-79.
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