(a)
Twenty-four hour
capability. The agency shall be capable of receiving reports of older
adults in need of protective services 24-hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week-including
holidays. This capability may include the use of a local emergency response
system or a crisis intervention agency.
(b)
Accessibility of professional
staff. Regardless of the arrangements made by the agency to receive
reports outside the normal business hours of the agency, the agency shall
provide 24-hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week-including holidays-accessibility to a
protective services caseworker by a person receiving reports so that referrals
required under §
15.26(b) (relating
to screening and referral of reports received) may be made for immediate
attention. If this accessibility is provided by means of telephone, telephone
paging device or other alternatives to direct physical presence, the protective
services caseworker shall be capable of returning the call within 30
minutes.
(c)
Toll-free
public telephone access. To facilitate reporting of older adults in
need of protective services, the agency shall provide toll-free telephone
access to persons residing in the planning and service area served by the
agency. If possible, the agency shall utilize the same telephone number
everywhere in the planning and service area at all times. This number shall be
extensively publicized throughout the planning and service area with special
emphasis on older adults and persons likely to be in contact with victims or
perpetrators of abuse, neglect, exploitation and abandonment.
(d)
Reports from outside the planning
and service area. The agency shall receive all reports made regardless
of their place of origin or the location in this Commonwealth of the older
adult in need of protective services. If the older adult who is the subject of
a report does not reside in the planning and service area of the agency or, at
that time, is not in the planning and service area, the agency shall notify the
agency which provides protective services in the planning and service area
where the older adult is located and relay to that agency the information
received in the report.
