100 Meath callers a month to Senior Helpline

Over 100 people a month contacted Senior Help Line’s call centre in Summerhill in the last quarter of 2012. Statistics compiled by the two call centres in Meath have also shown that health issues are the number one reasons why older people have contacted the Senior Help Line.
On average almost one in three calls concerned health matters. Calls concerning loneliness are just over one in four calls, and family issues make up one in five.
Senior Help Line provides a confidential listening service for older people by trained older volunteers for the price of a local call anywhere in Ireland. The purpose of the service is for older people to receive an empathic response on a variety of issues. The service is confidential, however Senior Help Line have identified particular trends in the calls that they received in the final quarter of last year. Senior Help Line is a Meath-based charity which is celebrating 25 years since its foundation in 1988.
“Health has emerged as a significant issue for older people. This includes physical health, mental wellbeing and stress. Older people are more prone to illness and they have concerns about health issues. Although we would never seek to give advice on health matters, the very act of talking to someone can help ease the anxiety for callers. Senior Help Line can provide some contact for older people, giving them a person to talk to,” said Mary Nally, Senior Help Line founder and CEO.
“Loneliness has also been an issue of concern to our callers. Many of our callers are living alone and some can go days without contact from other people. That kind of isolation can be terribly cruel and can have a detrimental effect on a person’s wellbeing. In the final quarter of 2012 about 27 per cent of our calls in County Meath are health related,” she added.
Ms Nally pointed out that calls about family issues are also high on the agenda and that family issues concerning finances, conflict and even alcohol have been raised. “It is fairly obvious that the recession combined with the increasing stress of life has put pressures on family,” she said.
While it is often perceived that men are slower to open up, the experience for the Senior Helpline team has been different with 48 per cent of callers to County Meath being male.
“That may be because men are more prone to isolation and less embedded in social groups within their community. Whatever the reason, it is important that people have an outlet to talk to people when they need it. We urge any older person who is worried about issues concerning health, family, loneliness or any other matter to call us on 1850 440 444,” concluded Ms Nally.