Watch out, be neighbourly!

THERE is growing concern about elderly people living alone and this concern probably needs to be expanded to anyone living alone.
Neighbourhood Watch Victorian State president Bill Horman only last week called on neighbours to look out for each other. Soon after, one of our papers reported the discovery of an elderly woman’s body in a Eumemmerring home. Several days later Red Cross Victoria executive director Andrew Hilton said a spate of tragedies in NSW, where several people died alone and unnoticed in their homes, had prompted a heightened interest in Telecross.
Mr Hilton’s concern is, however, deeper because of a slow start to the 2006 Red Cross Calling appeal.
This year, the appeal was, to my way of thinking, disrupted when it was brought back two weeks because of the Commonwealth Games.
Mr Hilton said if Red Cross did not reach its $2 million target then it may not be able to contact the growing number of isolated people in need of the Telecross service. Red Cross Telecross callers ring isolated people every morning to check their well being. Volunteers make the calls, but Red Cross incurs a large cost to provide the service.
Mr Hilton said donations to date were down by 38 per cent. Casey Red Cross chairman Norma McCausland said the Casey team was confident of reaching its $55,000 target for this year. Casey’s intersection collections will be conducted on 11 and 12 March.
My view is that a person is entitled to comfort during his or her final hours and particularly should be shielded from a painful, if not lonely, death.
Notwithstanding all that, many if not all neighbours do watch out for elderly people in their community. But often, through a perception of independence or not wanting to impose on people, elderly people decline offers of help.
This was born out by the Eumemmerring incident.
Police said neighbours had offered to collect the woman’s garbage bin and to provide other assistance as far back as a year ago. This was declined.
Mr Horman said, however, it was still important that people were alert to the well being of neighbours who may be very elderly or unwell. He said watching out for your neighbours could save lives.