MORE elderly people are being helped by push-button alarms which enable them to call for assistance if they get into difficulty.
The number of pensioners using them in Teesdale and Weardale has risen to 417 this year, up from 391, and the buttons have been pressed 329 times.
A report issued yesterday by the Dales Community Alarm Trust said 96 senior citizens called for help after falling, and another 78 needed assistance as they were ill.
Fifty were taken to hospital, while others were treated at home.
The trust, based in Barnard Castle, says a large number of the alarm users would have to go into care or hospital instead of remaining at home if they did not have this method of calling for help.
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