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<br />Free cell phones
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<br />TRIAD-sponsored and similar pro-
<br />grams are made possible by a little-
<br />known U.S. Federal Communications
<br />Commission (FCC) regulation re-
<br />quiring that 911 calls be connected
<br />at no charge from all wireless phones
<br />whether they have been activated
<br />for paid service or not.
<br />At the corporate level, U.S. Cellu-
<br />lar Corp, has distributed thousands
<br />of cell phones to older people
<br />through more than 60 agencies in
<br />16 states. And, says Michele Mer-
<br />rell, with U.S. Cellular, the compa-
<br />ny hopes to expand the program this
<br />year to at least nine other states.
<br />On the community level, retired
<br />banker Jim Malone, 811., af. C'anpbe:l,
<br />Calif., has almost
<br />single-handedly col-
<br />lected more than
<br />700 cell phones and
<br />given them to older
<br />persons in the past
<br />nine months.
<br />"If we save only
<br />one person from
<br />harm, all the work
<br />will be worthwhile,"
<br />he says.
<br />For Michael Eck,
<br />44, of Baltimore, a
<br />cell phone may have
<br />saved his life when
<br />last August he was
<br />on the receiving end
<br />of a truck driver's
<br />road rage. A 40-ton
<br />truck ranuned Eck's car several times
<br />during a 12-mile chase in Pennsyl-
<br />vania before state police caught up
<br />to them after Eck called for help from
<br />his cell phone.
<br />"Emergencies" aren't always life-
<br />threatening. When Dawn Moser, 61,
<br />and her husband, Joe, 62, of Thur
<br />mont, Md., ran out of gas in Ohio las
<br />winter, they used the cell phone the
<br />got from the Department of Aging i
<br />Frederick, Md., to call for help;
<br />A 911 operator sent a tow truc
<br />. with gas to get the Mosers back o
<br />the road again.
<br />"Without the cell phone, we woul
<br />have had to walk miles in freezin
<br />weather," Dawn told the Bulletin,
<br />Dottie Burkett, who runs a phon
<br />give-away program for TRIAD i.
<br />Seminole County, F'la., points out, "It'
<br />all wPll and vood to tell seniors, `Li:
<br />Where to obtain a
<br />911 cell phone
<br />T0. LEARN IF THERE is a 911
<br />cell phone program in your area:::
<br />? Call your local sheriff's of=
<br />fice or police department;
<br />• Contact your local Area .
<br />Agency on Aging;
<br />• Call your local U.S. Cellular
<br />retail store (listed under Cellu-
<br />lar Services in the Yellow
<br />Pages); or
<br />o E-mail TRIAD's national of- , .
<br />fice, terrih aheriffs.org, or call
<br />(800) 424•7827, ext. 305.
<br />your hood and sit there until some-
<br />one comes', but ... many crimes oc-
<br />cur on the roadside where [people]
<br />are sitting ducks for predators."
<br />In fact, a survey done for AARP re-
<br />veals 51 percent of people over 50
<br />have cellular service, and 54 percent
<br />of people over 65 subscribe to a wire-
<br />less service plan for safety, not for
<br />chat, says Christopher Baker of
<br />AARP's Public Policy Institute.
<br />But, cautions William Hinkle, with
<br />a consolidated 911 service in the
<br />Cincinnati area, even a cell phone
<br />can't save you if you can't tell the 911
<br />operator where you are.
<br />Why? Because although the FCC
<br />regulation requires the technology
<br />allowing emergency operators to pin-
<br />point the location of cellular callers,
<br />that system is not yet in place.
<br />Be alert, Hinkle advises; if you can
<br />give 911 the nearest
<br />intersection, mile-
<br />- says. "Now I know he can get help
<br />t wherever he is and whenever he
<br />y needs it."
<br />n However, cautions L'Archeveque,
<br />?.. you must charge your phone once
<br />k every week and test it at least once
<br />post, highway exit
<br />or a landmarit, it will
<br />bring help faster.
<br />Dee L'Archeve-
<br />que, M.D., chair of
<br />emergency medi-
<br />cine at St. John's
<br />Hospital in Far
<br />Rockaway, N.Y.,
<br />founded "Phones
<br />??
<br />for Life for older
<br />, persons. So far,
<br />she's distributed
<br />more than 1,000
<br />phones and has 500
<br />more locally ready
<br />to hand out [call
<br />(718) 86?7224].
<br />Mildred Wardlaw, in her 60s, of
<br />Bayside, N.Y„ feels great reiief since
<br />her husband, Earl, 73, who has em-
<br />physema, got his phone.
<br />"I used to worry when I had to
<br />leave him alone in the house or
<br />when he went for a walk alone," she
<br />n a month.
<br />"And always keep it with you. If you
<br />d fall and injure yourself and the phone
<br />g is on the other side of the room, or
<br />the batteries are dead, it may as well
<br />e be miles away," she says.
<br />William Barnhill is a Pennsylvania-
<br />basedfree-lance writer.
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