Estonia stops sending police to help seniors who fall at home
An Interior Ministry decision now bars Estonia's Emergency Response Center from dispatching police to seniors who have fallen at home, shifting the task to ambulance crews and social workers as of September 1. Local governments and the Social Affairs Ministry say the change came without warning or a workable alternative.
Starting September 1, Estonia's Emergency Response Center can no longer send police officers to help elderly people who have fallen at home and cannot get up on their own. Instead, dispatchers must choose between sending an ambulance crew or a local social worker, following a decision by the Ministry of the Interior.
Local governments say they were caught off guard. Veiko Luhalaid, head of the Estonian Cities and Municipalities Association, explained that municipalities do not operate around the clock, many lack official vehicles, and there is no on-call arrangement covering weekends. He also noted that if a person's door is locked, a social worker is not permitted to force entry, meaning the Emergency Response Center would need to be contacted again.
The Ministry of Social Affairs was similarly unprepared for the shift. Deputy Secretary General Hanna Vseviov said it is unreasonable to withdraw help from one system before a viable alternative exists elsewhere, adding that officials only learned at the last moment that the Interior Ministry would actually proceed. The two ministries had reportedly been discussing how to relieve police of this duty for about a year and a half without reaching agreement.
Interior Ministry Deputy Secretary General Tuuli Räim pushed back against claims that the decision was rushed, saying an analysis completed in May did not produce ready solutions but that work has been ongoing and solutions are being found step by step.
Over the past year, police assisted roughly 600 people in such situations. Meanwhile, the city of Narva has run a pilot project for half a year using dedicated community well-being workers, who are called out by both residents and police. According to Narva worker Vitali Slepnjov, helping a fallen person back on their feet takes about 15 minutes on average, though the task's difficulty depends on factors like where the person fell and their weight.
