This week we have five people from the USA on a fact finding tour. They are from the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Henry Ford Health System. A person from the Henry Ford Health System said they were impressed with what they had seen and a pilot scheme could soon be launched in the US then depending how it works out it could be rolled out across the country. They think that it could work well in somewhere like Detroit where quite a lot of vulnerable people live alone.

So what has impressed them? We have a scheme whereby some of our posties call upon vulnerable people as they do ther postal deliveries to check to ensure they are ok. People can sign up for visits free of charge and the alarm is raised if the postie gets no response to his visit. It helps to prevent isolation as well as being a way of raising the alarm.

How big is the island of Jersey, 45 square miles, how big is the US? Oh, and for those unaware of it, New Jersey was named after us.

I'm hoping it will help not just the US, but worldwide.



A whole lot bigger...about 3.8 million square miles bigger. Rhode Island, the smallest of the US states, is 1241 square miles by itself, and Texas (which is the largest in area in the Lower 48) is over 260,000 square miles, yet it is less than half the size of Alaska (many Texans will never admit that Alaska is larger by far).



No further than I am right now, I took a road trip to New Jersey the other day...drove a mere 95 miles one way to get there! I had to go through another state to do it too...which means I drove through three states (I'm in Maryland for training at this time) and drove less than 200 miles round trip.

The people from the Institue for Healthcare Improvement and the Henry Ford Health System must not pay much attention to what goes on in America. Here's a link to a story from 2007 about the Carrier Alert system starting again. It had been an experimental program in a few cities before it went nationwide.

What's the Carrier Alert system? People sign up to be checked on by the postal carrier. Also, if the mail is not removed from the mailbox for three days, the mail carrier calls the supervisor who calls the appropriate authorizes in the region to get into the dwelling to check on the person.

One time I felt lazy and left my mail in the mail box. My mailbox is on a post on the lawn. If it's raining or cold and I don't have to leave the house (let's all pretend I still live there), I don't get my mail. When three days went by and I hadn't gotten my mail, I heard heavy pounding on my door and people calling my name. It was my mail man with polic officers checking to see if I was dead. I didn't even have to sign up with Carrier Alert for that service.


http://www.wnyc.org/story/80984-city-revives-carrier-alert-program-for-seniors/

Home delivery is getting phased out in Canada, so that wouldn't work here.

Twice last week with two different carriers I had mail issues. One of my pieces was delivered one street over (same number, other street name) and I received a neighbor's mail (my number ends in 85 theirs in 91). I live alone but wouldn't have much faith that our Union carriers would take on a new task/duty without an increase in their bennies, nor would I put much faith in their accomplishing the task/duty with any amount of success.
We have other means and organizations that, in our 55+ age limit community, check in on shut-ins. Having good neighbors/friends is a good way to go. Most cities have Senior Centers that do such work. In our little block of the world we stay in touch with our other live-alones. I have been called 5 times to run over and help 3 women who had fallen and couldn't get up (no, no, not all at once!). I am working on getting a pair of walkie-talkies to connect me to one of them in case the phone is out of reach. The tiny radio left on the floor could save a lot of troubles.
We are all in this thing called life together. Should we really be relying on government programs to replace our neighbors and fix everything for us? Sounds like a failed community organizer from outside the community wants to push this program. When did MiraJane say they started it up before? Oh, yeah. when Community Organizer #1 ran for office the first time and needed the votes it brought him. Was there an ulterior motive at work or was there really a concern for the individual?
That Henry Ford outfit and Healthcare improvement are possibly working under a grant and need to go spend money on 'field trips' to justify their government grants. Next week they'll be in Tenerife. Sounds like the Dept of Health and Human Services has found someone to create the sort of data they'll use To justify their own fact finding tours.
Having said all that, I cannot say that the system isn't working for Sue, so I'm glad for that and her.

No, Mehaul, i did not say the Carrier Alert program started when someone was running for office. It had been in effect in a few cities then was expanded. The program has been in effect for almost ten years nationwide. You live in the same country I do so it is in effect where you live. The program was started on the suggestion of mail carriers. None of them asked for an increase in benefits. Try reading up on a program before you criticize it.

Quote: Here's a link to a story from 2007 about the Carrier Alert system starting

If that isn't what you wanted to say...

This issue sounds like the bathroom gender issue - a solution in search of a problem. How many single dwellers are dropping dead each day that we need a bureaucracy established and funded to fix the non thing?

I live alone as stated. I have a mail slot in my door, not a mail box. My carrier has never knocked to see if I'm all right. Must be a program going on in left wing liberal communities. But let me repeat what I said about Sue's situation. If she has the program and it works for her, fine. I guess others on the program benefit too.

Now explain why, if you have the program up and running in NY, Detroit sent people to investigate in Europe?

No bureaucracy was established. There is no funding for the program. No funding has ever been requested or granted for the program. I used a link to a NYC area news outlet because I have subscriptions to them. Again, it is a nationwide program. That story was to alert local residents to the program. If you've got a mail slot then your mail carrier won't be able to see if your builds up for three days unclaimed. That isn't difficult to figure out. I don't know why people from the Henry Ford Health System and a national nonprofit agency crossed the Atlantic to study the same program where Sue lives. Maybe they are studying ways to make it more efficient or how to alert the citizens of their area better. Again, Carrier Alert is a national program that costs nothing in the USA. It's a shame you were ignorant of it.

No bureaucracies? Not one but two! The Institute for Healthcare Improvement and the Henry Ford Health System. And out of control and lacking fiduciary responsibility if they traveled to Europe to find out first hand data that could have been acquired by phone or, oops, the mail!