Laserfiche WebLink
<br />`A LIFELINE TO HELP' <br />? <br />More' <br />localifies offer? free cell Phon+es <br />BY bU1LLIAM BARNHILL <br />When Edith Bonney, 80, .fell in the <br />bathroom of her Carrollron; Va., <br />home last summer she had to drag <br />hersel2 across the floors. -of three <br />rooms to reach the nearest phone and <br />call for help. "It was." she told the <br />AARP Bulletin, "very frightening." <br />Today. Bonney is one of thousands <br />of oIder Acnericans equipped with 2ree <br />cell phones, most preprogrammed [o <br />dial 911 with the touch of a single <br />btitton. Her phone was provic!ed by <br />a local TRIAD program run by [he <br />Isle of Wight County Sheriffs office. <br />"A cell phone:is a lifeline to help- <br />and in a crisis.i.t.can. niake the dif- <br />ference between lite or death," says <br />James Wright, riational execiitive cii- <br />rector for TRIAD..The group was es- <br />tablished 13 years ago by the <br />National SherifPs Association. the <br />International Association of Chiefs <br />of Police and AARP, and has dozens <br />of cell-phone projects nationwide, <br />with new ones starting each day. <br />fall. a sudden medical emer- <br />gency, a crime about to happen-all <br />can pose grave threats to seniors <br />who cannot reach their wired tele- <br />phones. Even lesser emergencies- <br />a car out of gas on a dark. isolated <br />highwav, for instance-can be dis- <br />astrous." Wright notes. <br />contin:rerl on page 13 <br />IUNE 2001 1 9