By Sam Odrowski

A program aimed at supporting adults 55 and older in Dufferin–Caledon just became more accessible. 

The Telecheck program, which provides older adults with scheduled check-in phone calls to help them live independently, can now make calls in a variety of languages.

The recent improvement to the program was made possible in partnership with the Polycultural Immigrant & Community Services. 

“TeleCheck's collaboration with Polycultural Immigrant and Community Services demonstrates innovation and leadership in our community's health and social system. Our volunteers are thrilled to extend our team capabilities with the language interpreters at Polycultural so that more diverse older adults can be supported with system partners,” said Jennifer McCallum, Manager of TeleCheck.

TeleCheck is an award-winning, free, and confidential telephone check-in service to support adults 55+ independently living at home, and connects clients with vital community health services, or a friendly social connection. Clients can tailor calls based on individual needs. TeleCheck volunteers support their clients, every day of the week.

Polycultural Immigrant & Community Services is a charitable, not-for-profit, community-based agency that provides support and services for seniors, newcomers, refugees, and immigrants in Orangeville and across the Greater Toronto Area.

The new collaboration ensures that TeleCheck services now reflect linguistic diversity by breaking down language barriers, ensuring that older adults from various cultural backgrounds feel comfortable and understood in Bengali, Hindi, Portuguese, Urdu and Yoruba.

The above language interpretation options are available through Polycultural staff, with the potential for additional languages to be added in the future.

“In the year since launching our Orangeville site, we've witnessed the richness of the multicultural tapestry in Dufferin-Caledon,” said Fatima Medeiros, Program Manager at Polycultural's Orangeville site.

“Our exciting collaboration with TeleCheck will link new Canadians with social health services that are personalized to their needs and made accessible in their preferred language.”

To arrange a call with language interpretation or language-specific services, current and new TeleCheck clients can fill out a self-referral form at headwatershealth.ca/Areas-of-Care/TeleCheck.