Cambridge senior citizens who are on their own or usually homebound, now have a program available to them that can offer an extra measure of personal security. A wide-range of city agencies, and the United States Postal Service have joined forces to launch the Carrier Alert Program in Cambridge. The most important partner in this effort is the letter carrier that actually delivers the mail to your home and the National Association of Letter Carriers is very proud of this program as it springs up in more and more communities throughout the United States.

Every senior 60 or older should have received an initial mailing about the program with a postage-free postcard to return to receive more information. (Seniors who live in elderly housing developments that have their own internal system to watch out for the daily health and safety of the residents did not receive the mailing.) The target population is the person who lives alone and may be in fragile health. An actual mailbox rather than a mail slot in the door is another pre-requisite. The Council on Aging will assist you, if you have a mail slot but are willing to have a mailbox installed at your home. This can be done for you at no charge.

If your mail carrier notices that you, as a Carrier Alert program member, have not taken your mail out of the mail box, the Post Office will notify the Council on Aging. The Council on Aging will be the keeper of the confidential information you will need to provide to be registered with this program. Upon the notification by the Post Office, the COA staff person will contact your designated family member or friend to see if assistance is needed.

Your postal carrier usually gets to know many people on the route quite well and especially those customers who are often at home during the day. There have been a few instances in recent years in Cambridge in which lives were saved because the carrier was alert enough to perceive a problem that needed intervention. This positive outcome has occurred even before this program was established here. Under the Carrier Alert system, though, the carrier will be on special alert for all the designated customers on his or her route that have signed up for this program.

The public event that kicked-off this program occurred on July 16th at the New Senior Center. Mayor Frank Duehay, Postmaster Marsha Cannon and others spoke about the benefits of this program. Much of the planning to bring this program to Cambridge came from the members of the Postal Customer Advisory Group, a group of Cambridge citizens chosen by the Postmaster to offer advice and ideas about postal services in Cambridge to the local postal officials at a monthly meeting.

If you, the reader, is interested to learn more about the program and want information sent to you, please call the Council on Aging at 349-6220.

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