Our Hometown
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Senior Crimestoppers in Lyons Wayne County Nursing Home is announcing its charter membership in the national Senior Crimestoppers Program. Administrator Margaret T. Haroff and her staff are taking an active stance against violence by initiating this crime prevention program to attempt to stop problems before they can occur. The Senior Crimestoppers Program, a national program of alliance partners, ensures the safety and protection of residents in long- and short-term health care facilities and offers a positive prevention program - a way to take action to insure the safety of residents and their personal belongings. Te Alliance partners include: residents; their facilities; facility staff and visitors; financial institutions; health care owners, management and associations; national support groups including Triad (American Association of Retired Person/National Sheriff s Association/International Association of Chiefs of Police); and the media. Wayne County Nursing Home becomes its own in-house Crimestopper Community. The benefits include a positive partnership with law enforcement, media, residents, families, staff and the community. There have been several successes to the program. Some of these include: specially designed personal lock boxes to safeguard personal items in each resident's room; around-the-clock access to the Senior Crimestoppers 800 number and its thoroughly trained operators; and full organizational, orientation and training materials for involving residents, families and staff in the facility chapters. Senior Crimestoppers has zero tolerance to theft and crime within a chartered facility. Anyone with any knowledge of any incident can call the special tip line number at 1(800) 590-5850 to anonymously report their information. Tips called into the program receive swift action. Immediately upon the report of a crime, Senior Crimestoppers posts a cash reward of up to $1,000 for tips on the crime, generates a reward poster and faxes it back to the member nursing home. That poster is then circulated throughout the facility to the staff, residents and families. Anyone with information can then call with a tip and possibly qualify for the reward - all anonymously. Rewards are paid through affiliated financial institutions, usually at drive-in windows or in envelopes using only the special code number used to identify the tipster. Senior Crimestoppers works because, just like in the community, fear and apathy over fighting crime are overcome through guaranteed anonymity to each caller and the payment of case rewards. Nationally, Senior Crimestoppers has reduced the number of crime incidents by 91.3 percent over previous years.
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