Neighbourhood Association completes emergency alarm installation

Neighbourhood Association completes emergency alarm installation

The General Union of Neighbourhood Association said yesterday that 85 of over a hundred cases of emergency alarm installations have been completed and also assumed that approximately 300 eligible senior citizens will receive the government's allowance on the emergency alarm installation.

According to the Chinese radio broadcast, the neighbourhood association said the Social Welfare Bureau has been planning to dispense allowance to elderly people aged over 65, receiving pension and are living alone. Those eligible will be exempted from 100 patacas rent for the alarm as well as the charge of the service from next month onwards.

The emergency alarm service centre supervisor Leong Weng Ian said the centre has received around an average of 30 to 40 calls a day from the elderly since its commencement in late February.

She added that she thinks the users were still not familiar with the function of the emergency alarm service, so that the number was not that significant.

“They usually think that the alarm is only used for something urgent, but it is not the right thinking. We actually hope that they [the elderly people] can communicate more with us,” she said.

Therefore, the centre is considering to do more promotions to educate the public about the meaning and use of the alarm.

According to her, the centre currently has 12 operators whose working hours are divided into three shifts a day and the second batch of operators are ongoing training, and as such she said she believed there should be no problems in dealing with the increasing number of calls.

She also added that there are still a hundred of applicants on the waiting lists and approximately 1,000 people will receive the installation in the year.

Monday, 06 April 2009
Macau Daily Times