I agree with earlier poster :Stay away from any product that is under the umbrella of Connect America. I used Medical Alert - one of their products - they own many, approximately 10 products- including Guardian on call for ex- tried both the mobile & in- home unit - not only do they not perform as advertised ( not able to communicate into mobile - so they can not talk to you nor you to them -so not able to determine if there is really a problem or if you're just testing, so for ex, they call emergency #s just for the test-those of you who pay for EMS coming should beware-when I complained about this they say it's because dispatchers are doing job extra well-hard to imagine a more pathetic answer). the in home stationary unit can't pick up a voice in the next room, despite claims that they can do that within 100 feet - there's incompetence on every level- and I figured out how to reach executive office -basic and essential info which i repeatedly provided even to higher ups was repeatedly recorded Incorrectly (existence & location of lock box, phone numbers, protocol of who should be called in what order, preferred hospital, the list goes on) and whenever a mistake was pointed out they attribute to customer instructions as excuse. They went so far as to send a tech to the home but failed to tell tech which system we were using - turns out tech had never seen it before. Amazing they're still in business. Plus if one pays over phone with cc when you get device the " contract" tries to make you sign off on allowing them to directly extract $ from your cc or checking acct- no alternative is offerred- they never disclose that they are keeping your credit card on file when you call - VERY sneaky. I should have listened to my intuition - when shopping around I was asked what other companies I was looking at & they trashed them with inaccurate info - which wa offensive. Someone I know used them so I let that trump my better judgement but I'm warning all of you -stay away. Would also like to know if DS Smallwood got the touch & talk unit...does no further info indicate a problem with that product?

My locale is not in the path of most natural disasters so in my lifetime, I haven't had to deal with them the way others have (Thank God!, I don't take it lightly or want to devalue the contributions of so many) I did stockpile for y2k and still have cans of seeds in the basement. If I lived in an area known for extremes, Oklahoma or the beach anywhere, for instance, no question about needing ample emergency supplies. We live on 5 acres bordering a creek so if the aliens attack, we can hunker down and plant those y2k seeds. For your amusement: for y2k, I stockpiled olive oil, chocolate, coffee, ibuprofen and wheat. (with a few other necessities-cash- thrown in).

Most of our patients detest the fact that now their doctors spend the initial part of the appointment asking questions and typing in the answers with barely a glance at the patients...... A new cancer patient has a 50 minute appointment and the doctor probably spends 15 to 20 minutes asking questions about the patient's symptoms etc. and then does the exam. Curious what the dr's did before they went digital? Did they (dr's) ask the same Q's & write/record the answers in the paper medical record? A lot of times new pt's have to fill out questionnaires that ask these same Q's. Seems that this could still be done & simply have the data entered by a clerical staff person. Then the dr can spend more time focusing on the patients problems. 15-20 minutes of the dr's time entering data much of which might be superfluous doesn't seem to be efficient use of his skills/time. I wonder if part of the problem with the pt's being put off by the dr's asking & entering data is the fact that the dr's barely glance at the pt... i.e. it feels robotic... and, as well, some people's aversion to "new age technology". With a cancer diagnosis you want to feel like a "person" & you want a dr who exudes a "caring attitude". I could see how that isn't the first impression given in the scenario you describe, Quilly. Hopefully drs & pts as well will grow more comfortable with the electronic med. record. When my dh recently had serious medical issues the Q's were not ask/entered by the dr. Other staff took care of that. Then when the dr came into the exam room, he looked over the pertinent data & proceeded from there. He entered some data himself following the exam, ordered tests, & sent off a script to our pharmacy. Then a summary of the visit is printed off for the pt. I love the electronic medical record. Love being able to see my lab results before going to dr, then I know how to focus my questions. My dr's office is fully engaged. Some dr's have had a bit of a learning curve & weren't so computer savy. But I think it's time to get with the 21st century.

Sams pharmacy was closed. I was thinking that I'd DHL a supply in this eventuality. But I thought it was a good topic as I was remembering something that happened to us, DH nearly sawed his hand off trimming a tree for his parents. Hospital stay was longer than the extras I had brought and Okie hospital wanted to charge $10/day per pill. I said "no way", but it had me scrambling trying to get his TX doctor to send a prescription to OK pharmacy. It was easy in retrospect, but I started thinking it might be harder if it involved overseas travel, just wondering what the options were.