REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF THE NEWRY AND MOURNE SENIOR HELPLINE NEWRY
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE AT THE LAUNCH OF THE NEWRY AND MOURNE SENIOR HELPLINE NEWRY, CO DOWN FRIDAY, 16 FEBRUARY, 2001
It is a great pleasure to join you this morning at the launch of the Senior Helpline, the first of its kind in Northern Ireland. Just over two years ago I had the pleasure of launching a similar service in Summerhill, Co. Meath. I am delighted to know that you have been able to tap into their experience, to share and exchange information and ideas so that you could provide the best possible assistance to the older members of this community.
As the pioneers of the Helpline in Northern Ireland your success will no doubt lead to similar ventures being established in other communities so that older people of the region will reap the benefit of the ever-expanding range of assistance which can be provided for them.
Today’s launch is an important reminder that as we get older our needs change and the way those needs are met is also changing in terms of services and facilities. With many years of hard work behind them, a lot of life’s experience in their heads and hearts, a store of good memories and a store of not so good memories, a lifetime’s service to life itself, to family, community and country - older citizens are a huge resource and an important voice. But with ageing come problems of ill health, of isolation as family moves away, as retirement takes us out of the working mainstream. The great mysteries of modern technology can appear to create huge gulfs between the techie generation and those who grew up when a mouse had four legs and wasn’t something you grabbed and moved around the table. There is always a risk the frenetic pace of modern life can leave older people feeling marginalized and isolated.
What is essential for any of us in our lives is to know that there are people who care about us, that if we need help, advice or information that it is easily accessed and importantly that we are not alone. This new Helpline we are launching today will be that lifeline. A simple phone call opens up a conversation with a friendly voice, with someone you can trust to be understanding, to listen and to help.
We certainly live in the Information Age but at times we feel its victims - bombarded by huge amounts of information we have to sift, digest and understand - information directly relevant to our lives. It is great to have someone able to say - I can help you with that - I can guide you through that particular puzzle. And that is exactly what the Helpline will offer - practical guidance through the Information Age which for a lot of people is really the Information Maze.
There are many times in our lives when every one of us needs the help of someone else. Sometimes we are the givers, sometimes the receivers. As we grow older, after a lifetime of being givers it is not always easy to see ourselves as needing a bit of help ourselves. Yet we know from life’s ups and downs that we do not have all the answers and that sometimes we just need to ask the questions in the right place. We also know how important it is to be part of a caring community where neighbour looks after neighbour, where a helping hand is always ready.
The Helpline is just that, a caring community offering a helping hand. It will be a wonderful reassuring resource to older members of the local community, increasing their control over their lives, giving them hope and help at the right time and quickly.
This Helpline exists because people dare to care about each other and because there are community builders prepared to roll up their sleeves and do the work instead of wringing their hands and leaving it all to others.
There is no big miracle that brings a brighter future overnight but there is another kind of evolving miracle that can be stitched together little by little, bit by bit, person by person, community by community. A lot of people stitched this project together and deserve warm thanks - the Newry Volunteer Bureau tops the list and they had help from many partners in the statutory and voluntary sectors, whose shared vision and common efforts helped bring Helpline - online.
Your work helps strengthen the community, making it confident in itself, its people, its future. Strong communities are healthy communities. Healthy communities build peace and prosperity. Our older people have lived through times that were difficult, times we are all trying to put behind us, times we do not want ever to re-visit. In every way that we show our care, our concern and our respect for each other we put another pebble in the causeway we are building to that new future. This Helpline is helping that new kind of future to emerge.
I would like to wish you well with the service, I hope the seeds you sow today will flourish, take root and spread making life easier, happier more fulfilled for the older members of our communities, who deserve nothing but the best. It is now my great pleasure to launch the Senior Helpline.