Howell County, MO. – The Howell County Sheriff’s Office recently announced a new program they will be implementing to take the fear out of being alone. The Are You Okay? (RUOK) program will check on homebound citizens, seniors, and the disabled in the community.
The program is a computer program that checks on seniors and homebound disabled residents in Howell County to see if they are “ok”. The RUOK Telephone Reassurance System is meant to ease the concern of friends and family who may find it difficult to maintain consistent, reliable contact with their loved ones living alone in Howell County, and the RUOK system brings a sense of comfort into every subscriber’s home. Each day at a pre-arranged time, the program will automatically make a computerized monitoring call to residents signed up. The specified time will be chosen by the individual between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. When the individual answers the phone a recorded message will play and they can simply hang up.
If they do not pick up, they will be called again in another 15 minutes. If they fail to answer again, an alert will pop up on the Howell County Sheriff’s Office computer and information will be printed out. At this point, a contact person, which could be a relative or a neighbor, will be called to go over and check on that person. If the contact person provided is unable to check in on the individual a patrol will be sent immediately to the house of the individual to check on their well-being. This program is free to Howell County residents.
Everyone who signs up for the program will have to fill out a form with medical and other information that law enforcement may need in an emergency. More information on how to sign up for this program will be provided soon once the program is set up and tested.
