CANBERRA residents are asked to look out for their elderly neighbours by ACT police and ambulance services after a series of serious incidents involving elderly people isolated in their homes.

Recently, police, fire fighters and ambulance workers forced entry into a Curtin residence where an 89-year-old woman had fallen inside her house sometime in the previous day and was unable to summon help.

This follows an incident where a 57-year-old man was found dead after several weeks in his Bonython home. It appeared no-one visited his home.

And a 70-year-old Kambah man was found by Centrelink officers on July 2 in very poor physical condition.

The man was sent to the Canberra Hospital but died later that evening.

Tuggeranong Police Station officer-in-charge sergeant Rod Anderson said these recent examples call for checks on people’s welfare, particularly those more vulnerable in our community.

“Welfare checks are a regular part of police duties but we need Canberrans to keep an eye out for those vulnerable people in their immediate community who may, from time to time, need help,” Sergeant Anderson said.

“Emergency services are usually the first to attend such matters. What we don’t like to find when we arrive is a vulnerable or elderly person who is very sick, highly distressed or worse.

“If you have an elderly person that you know, is in your family or living alone next door, please make the effort to check on their welfare from time to time.

“From a police and emergency services perspective, that sense of connectedness to others in your immediate community — whether it’s within your apartment block or local area — can only make for a safer community.”