The Safe and Sound program in Mad River Township has received a generous donation from one of their participants. Our readers may remember meeting Frances Steve-Gibbons back in 2012. Gibbons was 92 years young at the time and had recently visited the World War II Memorial in our nation’s capitol with a group of fellow veterans traveling on Honor Flight. Gibbons was interviewed wearing her Navy Nurse uniform that she wore while serving our country.

Frances’ daughter Mary made the $10,000 donation on behalf of her mother noting in her letter the “personal relationships” that were made with the dispatchers who wait for a call each morning from the participants. Trustee Kathy Estep recalled attending school with Mary and fondly spoke about their phone conversation regarding the donation. She reported at the January 21^st trustee meeting that Mary currently teaches a course for New York City police officers and talks about the Safe and Sound program in her course at New York University. Ms. Gibbons told Estep that she wants to share the information on the program with her students to help to improve relationships with the seniors and others who are home bound in her community. In her letter, Mary thanked J. R. Routt, Paula Scott and Linda Kankey for their service related to her mother explaining that her mother thought of them as her “friends”.

The Enon Eagle highlighted the Safe and Sound Program in 2013. J. R. Routt suggested that the program would be an asset to the community back in the early 2000’s. Today the local dispatchers, Pam Weaver, Linda Kankey, Janet Burns and Denise Hobson wait each morning for their “callers” to connect with them by 10 am. If they do not receive a call from each person on the list, they place a call to the resident in hopes that they simply forgot to make their morning check-in. Should the participant not answer the phone, the dispatcher sends out an EMS crew for a “wellness check”. The only other program similar to this one is in neighboring Fairborn.

If you would like to learn more about the Safe and Sound Program for yourself, a friend or loved one, contact the dispatcher on duty by calling the non-emergency number 864-1995.

A second option of the program is to have a “lock box” installed. In case of an emergency and you cannot get to the door, access is essential to that critical time frame when emergency crews can access your residence and provide the care that you need. The box contains a key that only authorized emergency personnel can open. It is much safer than leaving a key under a flower pot.

Chief Tracy Young will be working with the volunteer associations to manage the donation. Congratulations from our community to all of those who serve the Safe and Sound Program for a job well done. The trustees on behalf of the departments will be sending thanks to the Gibbons family for their generous support of this program.