Red buttons on emergency bracelets ‘underway’

Meetings regarding the potential roll-out of ‘red buttons’ on bracelets for elderly people are underway, Social Welfare Deputy Minister Marilena Evangelou said on Tuesday.

The idea of the ‘red buttons’ is for elderly people to be able to press them when in need of emergency assistance.

Evangelou added that she is in communication with the Third Age Observatory, which, she said, “has studied good practices from Israel, Germany, the United Kingdom, Germany and other countries where not so good practices were observed.”

With this in mind, she said evaluations of the red button are near completion, with “announcements” on the matter expected soon.

The government had drawn criticism on the matter of red buttons from House labour committee chairman Andreas Kafkalias last week.

He said the matter “has been pending since 2019” following a relevant cabinet decision, but that in the intervening five years, no update on the status of the plan has been given to the committee by either of two serving governments.