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Senior Medical Alert System

16 years ago

My mother had a fall 2 months before. She had a home alarm system from one of the local companies available in our area. But then they were of no good. Now i was planning to give her some personal emergency system, which is easy to use and reliable at any point of time. Can somebody who has experience with a good company and product give me a suggestion?

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Comments (4)

sushipup1
16 years ago
The non-profit senior agency that I work for recommends Lifeline which is available thru the volunteer guild at the local hospital. My client gets a call every day just to ask her how she is, and her price is only $25 a month, but that's a sliding scale, and it can be as high as $35 depending on income.

Call your local hospital or ask your mother's doctor. Use a system that is well know in her area.

Here is a link that might be useful: Lifeline
vala55
16 years ago
I would just get her a prepaid cell like T-Mobile to go. I keep mine in my pocket or attached to my waist band at all times. You could put your number on the speed dial as 1 and 911 as 2. It runs $7 or $8 a month with no contract or extra charges. I buy a thousand minutes ($100.)once a year to keep from having to worry about forgetting to renew and losing my number. They roll over the minutes. I broke my arm almost 2 years ago and even with that I had a terrible time getting to the phone. Every step was screaming pain. If I had broken my leg I would probably have died there. That is when I started wearing my phone.
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Hello, Since my mother is in a "foster" home there is little control on my part regarding alarms & such. With her dementia she has had many falls(104#) & a visiting nurse suggested an alert type of alarm fastened to her when she tries to walk on her own. The owner/caregiver would not allow this as it would disturb the family & other tenants. I can understand this, but I had a disturbing phone conversation with my mother last evening. When my mother said goodbye & put down the phone at the dining table she said "I can't move, you have me blocked in" & the reply was not very nice. What this is all about is that they feel they have to lock her wheelchair(okay),but when I have "dropped in" there has been a thick phonebook behind her chair at the table so she can't move. She feels "stuck" & I'm not sure how to handle this. Any suggestions...alarms or not? Sharlee
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Hi Natacha, I am interested that your heading does not allow for us to go to your page to learn about you, as is usual here. As for helping improve the quality of life of my parents, they left this dimension of living in 1942 and 1986, so it gets a bit difficult for folks here to influence that much now, directly. Some say that our prayers can influence their lifestyle in the situation which they inhabit currently, others doubt that possibility. The major medical alert system for emergencies in use here is based in a local residential and medical complex mainly for long-term care folks and seniors. I do not remember its name. I referred in an earlier post on this thread how it works. The person for whom there is some concern wears a necklace or wristband with a push-button which can be pushed in case of trouble, to have their telephone ring the phone at a care centre which is staffed 24 hours, 365 days. The staff have a list of several numbers to call when such a phone call comes in. It is possible to choose a service where the person at the care centre can speak to the person of concern, I understand, which allows for more flexibility. The wearer sends a message once per month at a pre-selected time, to test the system. One of the major problems is that the button may be pushed inadvertently, which gets the caregiver(s) upset ... and she or he hastens to the home of the person of concern, to be greeted on arrival with surprise: everything is O.K. - whatÃ¨s all the fuss about (my new keyboard does not do question marks ... or apostrophes or quotation marks, either). Each of the folks who are on call needs to have a key (or know where to find a hidden one near the subjectÃ¨s home ... or expect some broken windows or doors!). It cost about $30.00 to set up, plus about $30.00 monthly for service, about four or five years ago. The base unit at the phone and the push-button are on loan, to be returned at theend of the contract period. ole joyful
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Do you have a Consumer Reports subscription? I checked my online version and in July 2015 they did a comparison (and an update in Sept 2015). They did not do the typical ratings but the article offered a lot of good information about choosing one. ...........................CONSUMER REPORTS: This is from the article : "What to look for in a medical alert System" It works for a user's specific disability. For example, a stroke survivor may need a device he or she can activate with one hand. It offers a choice of a wristband and/or neck pendant. Cords worn around the neck can pose a strangulation risk; wristbands may irritate those with skin ailments. It includes help buttons that can be wall-mounted near the floor in multiple rooms in case the user falls and isn’t wearing the pendant. It offers multiple choices for whom to contact if you need help, from emergency services to a friend or relative who lives nearby. It has a battery backup in case of a power failure. The base station can be contacted from anywhere on your property—even in your yard or at your mailbox. The company has its own monitoring center, in the U.S., and employs its own trained emergency operators (rather than contracting that function out). The monitoring center has been certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a nonprofit safety and consulting company. Choose the right medical alert system All systems (listed in alphabetical order, below) offer daily 24-hour monitoring services. All come with a waterproof neck pendant and wristband with a battery backup. Some offer a GPS mobile feature, which works when you are traveling away from home. Some also offer a mobile 911 phone, which places a call to local 911 services if you're out of your normal service range. It carries an additional fee. Some offer an automatic fall detection system, but they say it cannot detect 100 percent of falls, and the companies charge an extra fee for this service. Tip: As you shop, ask for quotes in writing because prices and services may change. .................................. Since the comparison is over 18 months I won't include the chart - it included 6 companies and they might not all be in your area. But the information above may help you select one. Several reviews mentioned that many have long term contracts that may be difficult to cancel. The user needs good wireless in their home. I wonder if your local Emergency Response service might be able to suggest one. Maire
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blitzyblond_protege
15 years ago
Lifealet is the most common in our area. My DM's cousin has another "basic" company that just has a button to push, there's no voice contact. She fell a year ago and since they didn't know her condition/status they dispatched every Emergency Response Vehicle you can imagine, including a high-ladder truck & a fire-cannon truck. Help! They broke her security screen and door in because she couldn't tell them where the lock-box was hiding the key. She was fine, but oh the frustrated panic. Much to the whole family's disgust, she still has the same company.

I'm trying to talk her into using CTAP, California Telephone Access Program, which is totally free and provides a button, necklace or wrist, that has up to 6 pre-programed numbers and acts as a speaker phone. So she can choose which pre-programed number to tell it to dial and talk to the person at the other end. #1 is usually 911, so they have to be thinking half straight to dial anyone else. Any where that doesn't offer CTAP, i would recommend LifeAllert.

check with AARP. They may have the services in your area rated on a list. l.marie
agnespuffin
15 years ago
Check with your local hospitals. There may be one or more that is directly connected to a Medical Alert System. This can be very helpful. Our local one also checks everyday.

It's important that a Service will respond even when the person hasn't pushed a button or called. Silence is also a good sign that something bad may have happened.

Yes, being called everyday can be a big nuisance, but if the person is in a condition where they need an Alert System, they need one that works even it they can't

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