Home Alone ... Medical Alert Systems

JustBonee

JustBonee

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Does anyone who lives alone have one of those systems? .. Your experience? .. I want to check into getting something for myself soon, and I see different options for these devices.
Any suggestions would be most helpful.
I don't really know what to look for .... and I don't have a landline.
 

My mother had one but didn't work at first. When you get one be sure to test it several times and you'll need a locked key box outside the front door. Then give the security code to the company. Mother's 3 daughters were calling and visiting everyday too but we weren't there in the night until the last couple of months. Do you have family members who call or text daily?
 
Lara said:
My mother had one but didn't work at first. When you get one be sure to test it several times and you'll need a locked key box outside the front door. Then give the security code to the company. Mother's 3 daughters were calling and visiting everyday too but we weren't there in the night until the last couple of months. Do you have family members who call or text daily?
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Thanks Lara . have family close by.
My daughter's family lives a mile away, and we text/talk often .. but never late at night. ... I guess it would just be nice to have a nighttime security backup, at a reasonable price. That's all I'm thinking about.
I've seen Life Alert and Life Station advertised, and just wondered what they are all about.
 
Mine is just called “Medical Care Alert” and it WORKS! I got it in the autumn of 2016. On the morning of Jan 6 2017, I had just talked to my daughter to tell her I was fine even tho it was cold & her school was closed for a snow day. I usually go barefoot around the house, but it was so cold that day I put on a thick pair of socks. Unfortunately I lost the “floor feel” I usually had, got my feet tangled up trying to make a 180 turn in my galley style kitchen & fell hard on my rear, couldn’t get up. Cell Phone on the other side off the room. So I pressed the button and after a bit of yelling back & forth with the system operator an ambulance (complete with cute guys ) was there loading me up in 20 minutes. The lock box worked like it was supposed to, they got my purse for me to take even. Broken right femur.
Then after I got out of hosp, rehab & a few months in assisted living I got it again, wearing it now.It does require a land line, but I only use the land line for that and don’t give out the number.
 
@Geezerette, thank you for the info. But sorry for the ordeal you went thru though. That must have been a rough time. But it sounds like your system did work well for you. That's great.

That's just it.. the scary part, and what I'm thinking also, anything can happen in a split second even when everything was perfectly fine minutes earlier. .. Family can be there for you, but if they aren't THERE 24/7, it's nice to have comfort in the press of a button when you are alone.
Thanks again. .
 
We don't have them, but when I was visiting a senior living complex in Washington State, the Director told me that they had that kind of system included in the package. It will be several years before we move there, but it is nice to know that the front desk will be quickly notified if something happens. The Director also told me that the younger people in the complex didn't typically use them, but as they got older they tended to put a fairly high value on it. Just how far the coverage extends beyond the buildings and the grounds is something I did not ask.
 
The assisted living place where I was healing from the broken leg also had them, I wore one there, didn’t need it, but the place had a lot who “wouldn’t push the button” or take it off & forget to put it back on. A few situations where people did fall in their rooms & weren’t found right away. They then set up a procedure on regular checks on “high fall risk” folks.
 
PVC said:
Why does it require a land line? Recently I've been thinking of getting rid of the land line and just getting a cell phone that I can carry with me and also getting one of those medical alerts.
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I really don't want to go back to a landline either.
One of the alert services that I mentioned, Life Station, said in their ad that you don't need a landline. I haven't read everything on their website yet. You pay a little more to have the service that way.
 
The cellular/gps is good for an active person. Landline based are great for housebound. Fall detection is not reliable enough at this point to be depended upon. Any system should be the 24/7 monitored type. There are some camera systems and there’s technology on the horizon that can track the footsteps of a person and plot their movement.
 
My system works on a completely cellular platform. The only problem with that is that you must heed the beep of the low battery warning, or you might be in big trouble, and not have an alert system available to you when you need it. My personal alert system is included in my whole house security system. I do not wear the pendant, at this point.
 
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Often when someone has a heart attack,, stroke, seizure, fall, etc. they can't press a button to summon help. Some areas have a phone service that calls once a day/night to make sure a person is okay. If after several tries there's no response, an emergency contact person is called. I think in some places it's called R U OK? or something like that. There might be a monthly fee, but it's minimal from what I understand.
 
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applecruncher said:
Often when someone has a heart attack,, stroke, seizure, fall, etc. they can't press a button to summon help. Some areas have a phone service that calls once a day/night to make sure a person is okay. If after several tries there's no response, an emergency contact person is called. I think in some places it's called R U OK? or something like that. There might be a monthly fee, but it's minimal from what I understand.
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My late mother had a system that periodically checked in with her. It was about $30 a month but included the pendant. It was landline based and local. Had a lockbox with the house key if the EMS was needed.
 
I called the Life Station website today ...https://www.lifestation.com/home-medical-alert-systems/

Their system works without a landline .. @PVC (it picks up the airwaves of all major cell phone carriers in your area) and gives you the independence to be on the go if you wish.
But if you go that route, you pay a charge each month for that convenience ... so I guess it evens out to a service that requires a landline.

With their button, you have a choice of who to call .... ambulance, police, fire department or a family relative. I really like that feature!
They seem to have good reviews and high ratings.
 
I feel that no one is too young for some type of protection or backstop device.

I fell in the garden when I was 54 and didn't have my cell phone with me as it was recharging. I had to crawl across the garden, up two flights of stairs, and across the house before I could get to the phone and get help for a compound fracture. Extremely unpleasant!

All our neighbors worked - they still do, even 14 yrs later, since they're all younger than we are - so there was no one around even if I yelled and screamed.

Yes, now I carry my phone everywhere, LOL. But I think medical alert devices are a great technology. When my MIL moved to a senior living facility, all residents had a device to wear. The staff also noted if someone didn't show up for breakfast, they would call to make sure everything is okay. If no one answered the phone, they were authorized to go into the unit.

That was how my MIL was discovered after having an aneurysm - she didn't show up for breakfast, didn't answer her phone - so they entered and upon finding her, immediately called 911.
 

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