CARP: 911 service confusion show elderly being overlooked
Posted Dec 4, 2015 10:59:25 AM.
Last Updated Dec 4, 2015 01:05:57 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – The Canadian Association for Retired Persons is concerned Thursday’s widespread phone outage and confusion over 911 services in the province is another example of the elderly being overlooked in the digital age.
About 140,000 Bell Aliant customers in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island lost telephone services Thursday afternoon after a minor fire at the company’s facility on North Street in Halifax.
Zach Churchill, Minister for Communications Nova Scotia, said no 911 calls were missed as a result of the outage, with the only people at risk being those who primarily use landline telephones.
He also asked we, “check on neighbours, the elderly, the vulnerable, anyone you know without a cell phone, and look after one another,” Churchill said.
Despite those sentiments, some remain concerned about seniors’ safety, because while those without Internet or cell phones were the only ones posing a risk, it’s a very good bet that most of those are seniors’.
Bill VanGorder, Volunteer Chairman at CARP’s Nova Scotia Chapter, said Friday, it’s seniors’ who fall through the cracks because they generally aren’t as digitally connected, so a landline is in effect, a lifeline.
“It’s the seniors who are most likely to need the help, either 911 or other emergency help, that were really put at risk,” VanGorder said of 911 problems on Thursday.
“To downplay that by saying it’s only seniors, really, we find that objectionable.”
VanGorder said this plays in to what he believes is a mass misunderstanding of the elderly population in the province of Nova Scotia.
“People tend to lump them all in to one basket,” VanGorder said, adding there are really, “three classes of seniors’.”
He said those approaching retirement, those active but are past the age or retirement and an emerging group in the last two decades, those living longer, sometimes past the century mark.
“Those making decisions seem to think that everybody is on the Internet now, everybody is using wireless, forgetting that there are thousands and thousands of seniors still in their homes, still using landlines, many of them still have rotary dial phones in their house,” VanGorder said.
Throne Speech Friday Afternoon, CARP will be watching
VanGorder said while seniors’ issues weren’t discussed on a massive scale during the recent federal election campaign, he expects the incoming government to act on the promises that were made.
“If seniors’ issues are pushed aside, the government is going to find they’re doing it at their own peril because seniors’ are still the ones that vote, and we’ll be watching very closely,” VanGorder said.
Financial security and health care are the issues that come up in CARP’s monthly survey of its members, which includes an increase to the Guaranteed Income Supplement, returning the retirement age to 65 from 67 and replacing the now dead Health Accord between the federal government and the provinces.
VanGorder said CARP will be watching Friday’s throne speech closely.
