GALLIPOLIS — You can’t put a price tag on feeling safe and secure in your own home; especially if you’re an elderly person, someone who experiences difficulty getting around or if you live alone.

For the past quarter of a century, Holzer Medical Center has supplied that peace of mind to Mid-Ohio Valley residents through its LifeLine emergency response service.

LifeLine provides people with access to local emergency services 24-hours a day, seven-days a week. The company is recognized not only as the leader in personal response service, but is also the pioneer in the industry.

Dawn Halstead, director of volunteer services for Holzer Medical Center, oversees the program locally. She said HMC’s system is one of 2,200 LifeLine service providers in the U.S. and has earned national recognition from the company for its work.

“Our program has been in the top 10 percent (of LifeLine affiliates) for the last four years,” she said. “That has to do with our growth, our business planning, our partnership with LifeLine and our ability to service our subscribers.”

HMC became a LifeLine affiliate in 1983 with just 10 subscribers. Currently, the program has 797 subscribers located mainly in its primary service area that includes Gallia, Jackson, Meigs and Vinton counties in Ohio, and Mason County in West Virginia.

Halstead said the system has extended its outreach to include subscribers in Ross and Lawrence counties in Ohio, as well as Cabell, Jackson, Kanawha and Putnam counties in West Virginia. Halstead said she hopes to further expand the LifeLine coverage area in the near future.

HMC’s LifeLine system is unique since it is a site-monitored program, which means the local affiliate staffs and maintains its own operation.

“There aren’t a lot of site-monitored programs left in the country,” said Halstead. “We’ve always been site-monitored. That’s the way it was in the beginning and our goal is to keep it that way, because it keeps it local. That’s another unique thing about LifeLine, is that they still do have some programs that are locally maintained and monitored; whereas some of their competitors have everything going through a central monitoring system.”

Halstead said one of the real strengths of having the program under local supervision is the chance to build personal relationships with subscribers.

“We know who they are, they know who we are,” she said. “We go to these people’s homes. We send them Christmas cards every year with our (employees’) pictures on them and they have them posted at their houses. One little lady even has our Christmas cards framed.

“You have to remember that for some of these people, sometimes we’re the only contact they have if they don’t have family,” Halstead added.

So how does LifeLine work?

Halstead said a communicator is installed at each subscriber’s residence and is linked to their telephone line. The subscriber is given their own personal help button, which they are encouraged to wear around the clock.

When the individual feels they need emergency assistance – medical, law enforcement, fire, rescue – they can simply press the button to connect to the LifeLine response center located at Holzer Medical Center-Gallipolis, where a staff member will then contact the appropriate emergency agency to provide assistance.

While HMC’s LifeLine subscriber base is comprised largely of senior citizens, Halstead said there are a few younger people who make use of the system.

“Anyone can have the service; anyone who has a need,” she said. “I have people under 50. I have two subscribers under the age of 40. There’s no long-term commitment. It’s a month-to-month service for as long as they choose for it to be there.”

HMC LifeLine is available for a fee of $30.00 per month, which covers the system lease, monitoring and equipment maintenance. The installation and activation fee is $20.00.

“It’s a wonderful service and we’re passionate about it,” Halstead said.

For more information about Holzer Medical Center’s LifeLine system, contact the program office at 740-446-5056 or 740-446-5868.