Montreal police officers, alongside members of a local community group, went door to door in LaSalle on Thursday as part of a month-long program to make wellness checks on seniors across the city.
“It’s really from the pandemic,” Montreal police spokesperson Caroline Alarie said. “We discovered there’s so many isolated people… (and) we decided to take these door-to-door operations.”
This is the fourth year police officers are doing check-ins.
Officers from all 29 police stations across the city take part in the campaign, using police and census data to reach as many elders as they can in their respective neighbourhoods.
“We give information on elder abuse, fraud, theft,” Alarie said. “We give it to the elder people we meet, but also to the neighbours, to the family, and friends so it has an effect long term.”
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been an increase in calls from elderly people or their families asking for help, according to local community workers. The biggest concern, they say, are seniors who are isolated.
“We make sure that seniors… know what are the different services, like food banks, activities, medical appointments,” said Alejandra Heredia, who works with the Centre du Vieux Moulin community group in LaSalle.
Another goal of the door-to-door campaign is to ensure the physical safety of seniors. Thursday marks World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, and officers were informing people about the need to speak up and report elder abuse.
“There are more reports recently, which means we are breaking the walls of silence,” Alarie said. “People are talking… Usually, elder people are afraid, ashamed. So if we have more reports, it’s because people are talking.”