BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — It's a simple question, 'Are you okay?', but it's also the key for a program designed to be a crucial check-in system for elderly neighbors in Brazos County.
- The ‘R U OK’ program is for neighbors 55-years-old or older.
- A volunteer calls the client at a designated time. After repeated attempts, if there’s no answer, a sheriff’s deputy will be dispatched to conduct a wellness check to ensure the client is 'ok'.
- 'R U OK’ is free. There is no charge to sign up, and no cost to participate. This is simply a way of making sure our senior Brazos County residents have someone to check on them.
- For more information about the ‘R U OK’ program, click here.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
“I have an artificial hip. I have an artificial knee and I have a pinched nerve in my back, which means there are moments in time that I need help,” College Station resident, Gayle Behrle said.
In those moments, sometimes all Gayle Behrle and some of our other elderly neighbors need is to have someone ask, "Are you okay?"
15ABC asked Gayle Behrle why it’s so important for elderly neighbors to be a part of the ‘R U OK’ program
“I think one of the biggest issues with people as they age is to still feel like they still matter and it's like aging is something we're not prepared for."
The ‘R U OK’ program is here, filling a major need for the elderly in Brazos County.
“Everyone wants to matter, and I think when people get older, they have a greater need to feel like they matter,” Behrle said.
Here's how the program works:
Local volunteers from the Brazos County Sheriff's Office call neighbors over the age of 55 weekly to check in.
“Our biggest fear is someone falling or something like that and can't get a hold of them, and then they're laying in the floor or something like that for days, and then something even more serious happening,” Brazos County spokesperson, Nathan Dennis said.
If they don't answer, an officer will come by in person to ensure everything's okay.
Currently, 40 people, including Gayle Behrle, have registered for this program.
She tells 15 ABC aging sometimes brings unexpected challenges.
“We're prepared to be young, we're prepared to work, we're prepared to achieve, we're prepared to spend, but we're not prepared to be old or to have anything wrong with us or to have to struggle just to live and survive.”
And she wants other elderly neighbors to know:
“You have to make sure that maybe you can't do the things you used to, and that's okay. It doesn't make you less."
“I think anything that helps you feel safer and know that even if your relatives can't be checking on you real often, somebody is aware of you as an individual and you're living alone and need help," she said.