Are there free daily check-in calls for seniors who live alone?

What these programs are called

Names vary by place. Search for these words with her county or state:

• Are You OK?, or RUOK. Often run by a sheriff. The Brunswick County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina places free automated calls every morning.
• Telephone reassurance. The general name. Anne Arundel County, Maryland runs a daily safety-check call, seven days a week, with trained volunteers.
• YANA, You Are Not Alone. El Dorado County's Area Agency on Aging in California makes free daily calls to people who live alone.
• Statewide programs. Maryland's Senior Call Check is free to residents 60 and older, by automated call or text, at the hour they choose.

How to find free check-in calls near you

1. 1Call the sheriff's office or police non-emergency line where she lives, not where you live. Ask if they run a daily call program.
2. 2Call her local Area Agency on Aging. The Eldercare Locator, a public service of the U.S. Administration for Community Living, connects you at 1-800-677-1116, or by text, chat or email.
3. 3Ask her senior center or place of worship. Ask about friendly visitor programs too.

What happens when she doesn't answer

It depends on the program, so ask. In the ones above:

• Brunswick County: the Sheriff's Office is alerted and tries to reach her or her contacts. If nobody can, an officer is sent to her home.
• El Dorado County: after three tries, the program contacts her family, friends or neighbors. Local law enforcement may be called next.
• Maryland: two more calls or texts, then her alternate contact, then a welfare check.

Some programs ask for key holders. Brunswick County asks for at least two, such as relatives or neighbors.

Does Meals on Wheels do wellness checks?

Along with the meal, drivers bring what Meals on Wheels America calls a caring check-in and routine safety observations. Find a local provider by ZIP code.

The USPS Carrier Alert program is another set of eyes, but only where a local agency sponsors it. A decal goes in her mailbox, and the carrier watches for mail piling up. The USPS explains how it works. Ask her post office whether there is a sponsor nearby.

A call program or an app: which fits your parent

A call program works on a landline, and an office follows up. That is a real plus. Hammock365 is different. She taps I'm Okay in an app on an iPhone, an Android phone or a web browser, and a text goes to your family or friends if she has not tapped by the time you picked. Flip phones do not work with it. Some families use both.

The honest limit

Hammock365 is a tap in an app, not a phone call. Nobody from Hammock365 calls her. It is not a call center, a medical alert or an emergency service, and it never calls anyone or 911. In an emergency, call 911.