Illustration by Anayah Darrett
In late March, the Arlington Police Department rolled out a free program designed to help older residents in the community.
Arlington Are You OK is a community outreach program aimed at checking on the well-being of residents 65 years old and over through weekly phone calls.
Doug Glotfelty, Arlington police crime prevention officer, said trained police department volunteers call participants weekly on a set day to make sure that they are indeed OK and that nothing is wrong.
Glotfelty said the goal of the program is to put residents’ minds at ease, not only allowing loved ones to be checked in on but also letting the person who signed up know they have resources available to them.
When a resident signs up for the program, an emergency contact is also put in the system. If a resident doesn’t answer the weekly call, the police volunteer will ask the emergency contact if they know why.
“People could be on vacation, at the hospital, visiting friends,” Glotfelty said. “Usually, the emergency contact we ask be someone that knows them well enough to know maybe where they’re at or what the situation is.”
If the emergency contact doesn’t know, the volunteers leave the next course of action up to them, whether that be the emergency contact going to check in, having officers stop by the resident’s house or talking through other options.
Apart from the weekly wellness checks, Glotfelty added one other component, an initiative that aims to make people happier.
Glotfelty said older residents might not have many people to talk to, and when police visited nursing homes via a separate program, he noticed how happy it can make them to have someone stop by and talk. Glotfelty wanted to add a check-in call on at least one special occasion.
“If we can call them on their birthday, maybe that’ll help make their day a little bit brighter, make them happy,” he said.
Residents wishing to sign up for the program can do so through the Arlington Police Department website.
Program qualifications:City of Arlington resident65 years old and up*Lives alone*Has a working telephoneHas a medical condition that requires them to be confined to a residence or has any other condition as deemed appropriate by program administrator
*Asterisks indicate an exception can be made.
Applicants are not eligible if they reside in an assisted living facility.
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