This community-based program began in Spokane in 1978 and is now an internationally-recognized best practice for keeping high-risk elderly citizens safe in their homes.
Gatekeepers can include neighbors, friends or service workers who come into contact with older adults who remain at home. Gatekeepers can be cable or power company employees, law enforcement officers and first responders, postal carriers, delivery drivers, church congregants, pharmacists or bank tellers. Often, it is the very nature of an older adult’s mental or physical state – memory loss, depression – that renders them incapably of understanding they are in danger if they live alone.
Gatekeepers are encouraged to call Frontier Behavioral Health’s Elder Services program or other community-based social service providers if they have concerns about vulnerable older adults. A phone call could be life-changing or even life-saving.
The program always maintains the confidentiality of Gatekeepers and at-risk adults.
For information, call 509.458.7450