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Automated Computer System Saved Arizona Octogenarian
Are You Okay? That was the name of the automated computer system that saved an elderly 88-year old woman from Surprise, Arizona from a possibly fatal bathroom fall. The "Are You Okay" or RUOK system is an automated program that makes reassurance calls to check on participating individuals that are homebound and elderly or those with physical and medical disabilities. Participants from Arizona can choose the time of day when these automated calls will be made, and if for some reason the automated call was not answered, Police or Citizens Patrol personnel will immediately be dispatched to the residence to check on the participant's condition.
For this octogenarian who lives at the Happy Trails RV Resort, the failure to answer the scheduled 9:30am call triggered a welfare check conducted by a Citizens Patrol member. The responding patrol member found the woman lying on the floor with a fractured arm and in need of immediate medical attention. The woman has been lying there for some undetermined amount of time, and was clearly not able to get up from her injuries to make emergency calls. The patrol member who got there on time was able to call in paramedics who brought the Arizona woman to a local hospital and treat here from her injuries.
Surprise is a progressive city in Maricopa County in the state of Arizona. With a population of 103,000 (2007 census), Surprise is the second fastest-growing municipality in the Phoenix metropolitan area and the sixth among the towns and cities in the whole of Arizona. The city was founded in 1938 by a real estate developer and an Arizona state legislator named Homer C. Ludden. Naming it after his hometown in Nebraska, the town started out with a few houses and a gas station. As a real estate expert, Ludden transformed the land into residential subdivisions with low cost houses intended for agricultural workers, and was eventually proclaimed a city in 1960.
Surprise slowly became a retirement capital for Arizona when tens of thousands of retirees flock to the city to live in the resort-like community of Sun City Grand that is restricted for these retirees only. This resort community contributed to the tremendous growth in population that Surprise enjoyed. And with these residential demographics, the RUOK system is a perfect reassurance system that would cater to Sun City Grand's residents.
The RUOK system has been in place for almost two years and has served more than 20 Surprise, Arizona residents already. The system was paid for by the Rotary Club, which raised the $3,000 fund to cover for the cost of the system. It has been incorporated to the city's police and Citizen's Patrol network. These personnel will be called in for any abnormalities in the routine calls generated by the system.
The Arizona police was quite satisfied and happy regarding this concrete evidence of the system's benefits to the city's residents, particularly those who are homebound and with physical disabilities. The outcome would have been different for the elderly woman if she had not participated in the program.
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