Yes, I was the phone pal for two weeks of the son of a 94-year-old neighbor. She was on a high floor, and the second day we went around to see who needed what. (The first team in our building was an ad-hoc group of kids plus me.) She was on the phone with her son when we got there, and she put me on the phone with her son. At that point it was mild still, so the only real problem was the darkness and lack of elevators. He was far enough away that I didn't think it was safe for him to try to get here, and she was safe and not isolated. As the weather deteriorated and the roads opened, he came in and got her down the stairs somehow and took her home. From then on, he's called me every few days to see if it was safe for her to return, because she was by then climbing the walls and wanted to sleep in her own little bed. Meanwhile, I was on another "escort team" getting an even older woman (98) down from a lower floor (fortunately). The team consisted of niece holding onto the woman, nephew backing down the stairs in front of her to steady her, and me standing at the foot of the stairs shining the extra flashlight to give the woman more illumination and letting the nephew see his own feet. Thank goodness these ladies were mobile. EMT people had to get another woman down the stairs in a chair.
The biggest problems aren't in regular high-rises but in some public housing complexes, where the dangers are greater and the attention paid to tenants is less. I haven't heard of any casualties, but I haven't had access to as complete coverage as I normally do.
The biggest problems aren't in regular high-rises but in some public housing complexes, where the dangers are greater and the attention paid to tenants is less. I haven't heard of any casualties, but I haven't had access to as complete coverage as I normally do.