TRIAD program helps ensure Maricopa seniors’ safety

With the signing of a Maricopa TRIAD agreement last week, senior citizens can feel safer in their own homes.

TRIAD is about seniors helping seniors, working in conjunction with the Maricopa Police Department and the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Pinal County Attorney’s Office to identify the needs of seniors and improve their quality of life.

What services does TRIAD provide?

Home Alone kit:  A home pendant system, which can be activated for emergencies if the senior is unable to reach the telephone. The pendant is a necklace worn by the senior, which is connected to a box attached to a landline phone with a 50-foot radius. There is a one-time cost of $50 for the system, and financial help is available for those in need.

Telephone reassurance:  Volunteers call seniors who live alone or have health concerns between 7 and 9 a.m. each morning to chat for a few minutes and check on their welfare.  If no one answers by the third call, MPD officers or sheriff’s deputies (outside the city limits) will respond.

9-1-1 cell phones:  Free cell phones, donated and with all personal information removed, giving the senior access to 9-1-1 service.

Emergency medical cards:  Medical conditions and current prescriptions are entered on a card, which is then posted on the senior’s refrigerator. In emergency situations, paramedics or first responders have immediate access to that information.

On Feb. 4 Maricopa Seniors president Therese Starkey, Maricopa Police Chief Kirk Fitch and Jim Stevens, a volunteer representing the PCSO, signed the TRIAD agreement in front of a large audience of seniors, who gathered at the Maricopa Public Library for the event. District 3 Supervisor David Snider and Maricopa Councilmen Marvin Brown and Edward Farrell were also present.

Starkey thanked everyone for making the project, four years in the planning, come to fruition. She also acknowledged the help of Maricopa Seniors officers Helen Brown and Marge Kavanaugh and MPD Sgt. Stephen Judd.

“Without volunteers, the TRIAD program would never happen,” said Starkey, who already has 20 volunteers. “We’ve had an unbelievable response.”

The Pinal County Attorney’s office oversees TRIAD, and there are seven other TRIADs in the county. Shannon Ortiz said their office was pleased to have such a strong foundation established in Maricopa “to make Maricopa seniors safe.”

“This is a great day in Maricopa,” said Snider. “As my dear friend Dorothy Powell used to say, ‘If you don’t think these issues are important, just wait!’” 

Brown echoed those sentiments. “You see the commercials—‘I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up,’ but it happens all the time.”

Fitch noted that TRIAD “kicks off another phase of our volunteer program.” Judd added that, as a first responder himself for 16 years, he knew officers would be excited to have more information available when they are called to a senior’s home.

To enroll in the TRIAD program seniors must be 55 or older. Volunteers need to be fingerprinted and complete an application before they are trained for the program. If you are interested in enrolling or volunteering, contact Therese Starkey at 520-568-8945.

Photo by Joyce Hollis