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Survey on telephone need of elderly
The Social Welfare Department will launch a four-month survey next Monday (August 5) on telephone requirement by single elderly people who are receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA).
Announcing this today (Friday), the Assistant Director of Social Welfare, Mrs Rachel Cartland, said the purpose of the survey was to reach out to some 40,000 single elderly CSSA recipients who had not applied for grant to meet telephone charges.
She pointed out that under the CSSA Scheme, elderly recipients who need a telephone are eligible to receive a special grant to cover the installation and recurrent
costs.
"However, many eligible recipients have not in fact applied for this grant and the experience of the cold spell earlier this year suggested that elderly people living alone are not always aware of the importance of effective communication in an emergency," she said.
"So before the cold weather begins we will aim to contact all our single elderly recipients who are not already receiving the grant to encourage and assist them to apply for it," she added.
During the next few months, staff of the Social Security Field Units will contact the elderly people either by visits or telephone to assess their need.
The visits, she said, would be carried out on weekdays, mostly during day time.
"The staff will also take the opportunity to introduce to them the networking service for the elderly and the grant available for an emergency alarm system for those in special need," Mrs Cartland said.
The whole exercise is expected to be completed by the end of November.
To avoid imposters, Mrs Cartland called on elderly people to take heed of the following advice:
(a)
Do not allow a caller into your home until he has proved his identity;