The City of Borås has established a helpline for the elderly and people at risk. The guideline is for people over 70 or belonging to one of the coronavirus risk groups. The guideline offers support for those who feel anxious or alone and provide practical help to those who are isolated possible.
When a crisis hits society, it is of the utmost importance to maintain the accessibility of the municipalities and the possibility for citizens to report their problems. Managers need to be informed about things that are not working so that actions can be prioritized, planned and implemented. In this way, Infracontrol Online supports many municipalities in their daily work, some of whom now also use the service to manage activities related to the corona crisis itself.
Duarte Marques, Municipal Civil Protection Coordinator in Vila Pouca de Aguiar in northern Portugal, gives an example that he hopes more Infracontrol Online users can be inspired by and benefit from:
“In Vila Pouca de Aguiar, the social services register the positive Covid-19 cases in Infracontrol Online in order to keep a better eye on which areas are most affected in the municipality. The municipality also uses the service to request reports from those who are infected and quarantined, as well as receive requests for help to buy food or medicine. The service can also be used to manage mobile healthcare teams and those who disinfect. The activities then will be scheduled and reported together with the current position so that the municipality can monitor and secure that all the units carry out their tasks.”
An important platform for communication
The ongoing crisis places extremely high demands on society. Municipal organizations are under heavy pressure, while citizens’ need for a functioning infrastructure, service and information is greater than usual. In addition, the work situation for many has changed completely as many now have to work remotely. Here, Infracontrol Online can function as a simple, easily accessible and effective platform, says Johan Höglund, CEO of Infracontrol:
“Ensuring that the community’s infrastructure is accessible and functioning and maintaining contact between citizens and the municipality’s organization is always important, but especially in a situation like this. As a citizen, you need to be able to quickly and easily submit the views or problems you discover and feel that you get a response to them. On the part of the municipality, it is about valuable information about things that need to be handled. You need to take care of all matters and communication with the citizens in a good and safe way, and make sure that everything is taken care of, followed up and reported back.”
He says that this is exactly what Infracontrol Online does 24/7 in about 150 municipalities. It is something that has not changed despite the corona crisis but rather the other way around. According to Johan Höglund, the number and type of cases that come in and manage with the service show that the need seems to increase.
Support to help
Many of the municipalities that use Infracontrol Online in their daily operations have now also begun to use the service for Covid-19 related activities. One good example is the City of Borås in Sweden where a helpline has been set up for the elderly and people belonging to a risk group. The helpline offers support to those who feel anxious or alone and provide practical assistance to those who are isolated. The calls to the helpline are registered in Infracontrol Online so that these cases can be handled quickly and safely.
“This is mainly about requests for help with shopping for food or getting medicine, says Johan Olovsson at the City of Borås. These matters are then taken care of by aid organizations linked to the HelpLine. We thought this was an easy way to improve and simplify the help of those in need during these times. It was easy to achieve because we already have Infracontrol Online implemented in our organization.”
