‘It’s a time for us to be kind’ - ‘Hotline’ hosts lead ­initiative to help elderly listeners with basic supplies amid COVID-19 pandemic

When an order was issued for elderly persons to remain at home because of their high-risk status for the deadly coronavirus, the effect was not lost on ‘Hotline’ host Emily Shields.

Shields, one of three hosts of the popular Radio Jamaica daytime talk show, listened as dozens of elderly callers shelved their pride in outlining their basic needs if they were to survive the pandemic. The programme responded with the Hotline For the Elderly relief effort, which is seeking to assist seniors across the island.

“It takes a lot of pride – a lot of putting away of pride – for somebody to call on a public radio [programme] to say, ‘I don’t have it’,” Shields said.

She and her fellow ‘Hotline’ hosts, Dr Orville Taylor and Clive Mullings, were so moved that they decided deliver care packages to loyal listeners in need.

Along with a dash of love, the packages include food and personal care items as well as cleaning agents.

“When the prime minister made the announcement that there was going to be an order for people over 75 to remain indoors and they be allowed out only for some essentials of life, I just thought, ‘That’s going to be a large part of my callers’,” Shields, an attorney-at-law, told The Gleaner. “And just like that, it came to me – what can the ‘Hotline’ do to help in this time?”

The Government had imposed the order for seniors and persons with certain underlying medical conditions to remain at home because of their high risk of adverse outcomes should they contract the coronavirus.

But forced confinement amid broader restrictions on businesses and movement generally for all citizens meant the poor and elderly would be finding it even more difficult to meet their basic needs while keeping safe.

Shields said she had to act and was thrilled at the opportunity to create an even deeper bond with her callers.

“I don’t like to refer to them as callers because I think it’s important to know their names. Some of them, I’ve always wanted to meet them in person,” said Shields, who joined Mullings and Taylor as a host of the popular talk show in 2015.

SURPRISE VISITS

“I wanted it to be a surprise. I didn’t want people to know that I was coming to their gate,” the host shared of the first roving delivery just before Easter. “Part of the element of the surprise is going to show up at Mr Coombs’ gate, or Sly Mongoose’s gate or Departure Lounge’s gate, and my producer would make the connection on the telephone to their cell phone and I would talk with them as if I was talking with them normally if they had called me, and then I would say, ‘I’m at your gate with a delivery’.”

Hotline For the Elderly is a result of a joint effort between Radio Jamaica and personalities there, numerous corporate entities which provided a range of supplies, and Shields’ own family, which joined in packaging and baking breads and puddings.

It has meant a lot to the recipients.

“They were surprised; they were grateful. I went to a lady in St Thomas to make deliveries on Good Friday and ended up with a bag full of the most amazing East Indian mangoes. As I was giving, I was receiving; such is the blessing of God,” Shields said.

So far, more than 150 care packages have been delivered, with plans for another 100 in the coming weeks.

Shields has one appeal: “There are large gaps, which is why I think every single person needs to step in at this time in whatever way they can. It’s a time for us to be kind.”

jovan.johnson@gleanerjm.com