Figures from NRW: Seniors often make emergency calls out of loneliness

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Senior woman (icon image)

Photo: Sina Schuldt / picture alliance / dpa

More than half of the calls that the Malteser in North Rhine-Westphalia received between Christmas Eve and January 2nd via the house emergency call were calls from loneliness.

As a spokesman for Malteser said on Tuesday in Cologne, many more people than usual reported over Christmas and between the years anyway.

This time it was about four times as many as on normal days.

Above all, many older people are connected to the Malteser via a so-called home emergency call.

You can press a button, and someone from the Malteser headquarters will use a hands-free system to organize help if necessary.

According to the information, the alarm was triggered 4,488 times across NRW.

With more than 2,500 alarms, i.e. more than half, no specific help was required, the spokesman said.

Rather, the seniors simply felt the need to talk to someone.

"We look after around 40,000 home emergency call customers in North Rhine-Westphalia and are observing with concern how many older people are already suffering from loneliness," said Ruth Horn-Busch, head of home emergency calls at Malteser NRW.

“This is a serious societal problem.

People are getting older and we are realizing that there is no longer the classic extended family that takes care of each other.«

him/dpa