We got one of those for my MIL about 5 or 6 years ago. She started talking about them after my SIL had a stroke and laid on the floor for 8 hours until her DH came home from work. As a result of that stroke she has been in a nursing home and cannot move the right side of her body. Now if she had one of these maybe things would be different, but, she was only in her sixties and in good health didn't think she needed one. So, we got it for my MIL as a birthday gift (it sure makes it easy every year as to what we are going to get her besides sending her flowers) and she just loves it. She and we have piece of mind. We live a little more than hour away so it will take time for us to react in an emergency. It not only works in the house, but, we went outside in the yard and it worked as far as across the street into her neighbors drive way. So this way if she is outside near the house all she has to do is push the button if she needs help. The company is US and their operators are all US based. We did everything online with them including paying them every year. I would highly recommend them. The name of the company is Alert One http://www.alert-1.com/ Here is a link that might be useful: Alert One

Beyond the alert thing since he is having these episodes it is time to start looking at alternative housing. No one likes to do it but when you are not in the immediate need it will allow you to see what is available and at what price range and types of care to make the best decision for the both of you. One thing that I was not aware of when I was looking at assisted living for my husband was there are weight and aid restrictions with assisted living. In this state and it is probably national if someone needs two people to assist siting and standing they are not eligible for assisted living. I think over 200 or 250 was the cutoff. Then there is the insurance thing. If it is an emergency placement for extended medical care some nursing homes will not accept all forms of health insurance for that period. This will vary from year to year so learn how to check the website of his insurance for the current information. If you have a POA, which you need, you have the legal right to sign on as if you are him. Your local office on aging can help with all kinds of information including what is needed if your father does not have enough resources to provide for his own care. Go to the initial postings from several years ago and start reading the comments if you have time. They can provide some excellent suggestions both on things to do and things to watch for in his day to day activities which will provide incites on how he is feeling beyond what he tells you.

An oldster in my extended family who lived alone was given such a device by her kids, who otherwise worried about her situation. I don't know what service was used. One night, when returning to her bedroom from a bathroom visit, she tripped hit her head on a bedpost and was knocked out for some period of time. She awoke somewhat disoriented but found her head was in a pool of blood. She waited until sunrise before trying to get up. All the while, the alert device was hanging from her neck but she "didn't want to bother anyone". That was the last straw for her kids, she's in an elder care residential facility now. It's not a nursing home it's not a memory unit it's just a residential facility that offers additional services. I share the story only to suggest that a medicalert device may not be adequate to resolve the problems of someone living alone who may require more third-party vigilance.

"Some things to think about that my older friends found out. If there are too many calls to 911 in this area there was a charge for each one and that charge was expensive." Don't these devices call the security company, not 911? If so, surely the person on the other end is trained to know what to do and when and what resources are required. A device is hardly worth the additional expense if all it is is a cell phone.