The Taipei City Government yesterday urged senior citizens with a medium or low income who are living alone to apply for free devices that would allow them to summon help easily in case of an emergency.
Those eligible will receive a set of personal-response devices, including a main server for their home, fire and gas detectors and a waterproof help button that can be worn as a pendant or wristband, said Cheng Wen-huei (鄭文惠), an official at the Department of Social Affairs.
The help button activates the home unit, which is connected to the service’s monitoring center.
Officials at the center will immediately send personnel to assess the situation and provide assistance, he said.
MONITORING
The city government launched the measure four years ago.
Today, about 1,600 senior citizens in the city are covered by the 24-hour monitoring service, which is operated by the Taiwanese branch of the US company Lifeline System, Cheng said.
The company provides personal medical alert and emergency response services to seniors and the disabled.
The Taiwanese branch also works with local governments and medical institutions.
Cheng said the elderly can submit their applications to the department, adding that the fire department would help install the devices.
CONTACT
Once a month, social workers and medical care personnel from the social affairs department will visit senior citizens who are living alone and contact them by telephone once a week to evaluate their living conditions.
Starting in January, Cheng said, the city government will also give free wristbands to seniors with medium and low-income who are prone to get lost.
The wristbands can help police locate missing people.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS