A new program through Monadnock Family Services is teaching residents how to watch out for their vulnerable neighbors.

The program, called Gatekeeper, will give people in the community a resource to call when they’re concerned about a community member, particularly the elderly, and train them to recognize signs of people who might be struggling and need help.

“We know the Monadnock region is aging in our population,” Phil Wyzik, CEO of Monadnock Family Services said in an interview Tuesday. “The issues of adults in their older age multiply, both in physical health and mental health.”

Monadnock Family Services nonprofit Community Mental Health Center, with locations in Peterborough, Jaffrey, Winchester and Keene. They also run the Monadnock Adult Care Center in Jaffrey, and said they often hear from families using the center that they were struggling before hearing about their services through a doctor or from word-of-mouth.

“We know there is a lot of untapped need,” Wyzik said. “And that’s going to continue in the years ahead.”

Chris Selmer, the director of the Monadnock Adult Care Center, said she sees many older residents become isolated, particularly if they can no longer drive. 

“When you give up your car keys before your house keys, you’re now locked in. Your network has now become pretty limited. You’re not going to church or the Woman’s Club unless someone is picking you up. You’re reliant on your network, which hopefully you have,” Selmer said.

And that isolation can have negative impacts on both physical and mental health, Wyzik said. People who are isolated are shown to use health care services more often, and are more often depressed, Wyzik said.

The idea behind the Gatekeeper program is to tap the members of the community who often interact with the public, and might have a sense when one of their regular customers is having a problem, and teach them to recognize the signs. People like postal workers, bank tellers, hairdressers, dentists, or other professions who often serve the same customers on a regular basis.

“They may see some warning signs that someone is declining, but then they don’t know what to do, or who to call,” Wyzik said.

Those warning signs may be subtle, such as someone who once took meticulous care of their lawn letting it overgrow, or someone who has trouble regularly picking up their mail.

“If they’re worried, and they call us, that’s all they need to do. We will figure out the next step,” Wyzik said.

That may just be contacting the person, and offering to connect them to the resources the region already has in place, such as Service Link in Keene, or Adult Protective Services, Wyzik said.

Sometimes all it takes is someone proactively making an invitation to assist to resolve the issue.  

“We want neighbors to be on the lookout for each other. That’s what we want to bring to the Monadnock region,” Wyzik said.

Monadnock Family Services, along with the Keene Senior Center and the Monadnock Collaborative, received funds from the Monadnock United Way to implement new programs targeting assistance for the elderly population.

The program is kickstarting this January, and Wyzik said there will be planned seminars for people to attend to learn potential warning signs.

If you have concerns about a community member, you can contact Gatekeeper at 532-1687.