Initially funded by a $10,000 grant from the City of Wilmington, this pilot program will serve residents of the WHA’s Parkview Senior Housing Facility to start.
As the program grows, it will expand to other parts of the city.
Wilmington Housing Authority executive director Ray Fitzgerald says the program was created based on resident needs.
“We’ve had a number of instances where people who were housed in our facilities have passed away. And really we didn’t find out until days later because I guess it wasn’t unusual for those folks to not be around, and it wasn’t alerted to us,” explained Fitzgerald.
The Wellness Checker Program enables WHA residents to opt-in to regular phone calls made by the WHA’s Wellness Checker Team.
The team will ensure residents are taking care of themselves. Calls may include meal and hydration reminders, medication alerts, and regular conversation.
Fitzgerald says he thinks this will be beneficial to the mental and physical health of residents.
“I think it will be encouraging for them to have phone visitors on a regular basis, and to have a dialogue with people. Maybe they get reminders about their medicine, or they have a specific time they’d like us to call. It’s almost like their social media, for lack of a better word for it.”
If the team does not get a response from a resident after multiple calls throughout the day, the on-site housing management team will be alerted to perform an in-person check-in.
The pilot service will launch this June.
