Feasibility of phone line to serve the elderly looked into

Mon, 03 Sep 2012

Esther Rantzan

The feasibility of a scheme which will endeavour to stamp out loneliness and isolation among the elderly has been explored on the Island today.

Silver Line is the brainchild of Esther Rantzan, the journalist and television presenter who is responsible for similar initiative ‘Child Line’, which has been a major success since launching in 1986.

‘That’s Life’ presenter Esther has said she has set out to tackle the issues of loneliness and isolation felt among older people, particularly those living alone.

It's described as a telephone befriending service, offering the individual a friendly voice to impart help, advice or just be there for a chat.

The plan is for the service to go UK wide around Christmas time, with the Isle of Man selected as the testing ground.

Esther told us how the idea came about in the first place:

(PLAY AUDIO BELOW)