Faced with a rapidly aging population, one group in Co Carlow is taking action to develop services to help older people in their community.

The Carlow Older Persons Forum has several initiatives for 2017, including the introduction of a ‘hospital link’ seven-seater car which will help isolated elderly people with transport to medical appointments. Another initiative is age-friendly parking in Carlow town. Special car parking stickers allow older people park in designated spaces.

The group is set to be one of the first communities in Ireland to use a service from communityalerts.ie, the well-being notification service.

As Joe Butler, chair of the forum explains, this is an extension of the popular text alert system used by many communities to keep abreast of potential criminal activity.

“Older people can sign up to the service and every day they ring or text a number to say ‘I’m OK’ by a certain time,” says Butler. “If they don’t get in touch by their allocated time, a text is sent to two people, often neighbours, they have nominated. Those people are keyholders so they can call into the house and check on the person.”

Carlow Older Persons Forum has also just launched an ‘Adopt a Granny or Grandad’ project to connect older people with young people in their area, initially through letter-writing and, in time, through social events.

The project is aimed at connecting older people who may not have grandchildren of their own or whose relations live far away with children whose own grandparents have passed away or do not live locally.