Med-alert buttons

[siderman 1,137]

Yes, the "help I've fallen and cant get up" one.. for my mom. Have looked at a lot of reviews and such and wouldn't mind a few more. Lots of co's out there but seems all are pretty much the same with offerings and CS & pressure sales being what seperates them. Keeping it simple with just a landline, cell/wireless not an option and 99% of her life is in the house anyway, for the rare outside adventure she cant work a cell phone anyway. Dont think the "auto fall alert" is an option either as seems too many false positves & not very reliable. A simple press button system.  I live 4 mins away which would preferably make me the primary call#... any thoughts, experience? Thanx.

[Gunsrlegal 140]

My Mom has one for free through a program in Ocean County. It's limited to only working in her house because it works off her landline. When in her house it works well with regular test calls; she had a choice of necklace button or bracelet button. They even check-in with me monthly. Before you buy anything, i would check with her town or county to see if anything is offered for seniors.

[Grapeshot 301]

We have Life Alert for my in-laws, and they actually needed to use it last night. It’s not cheap - ~ $100/month, and you get a free month if you pre-pay upfront for the year. We split the cost amongst the kids so it’s not too bad. She has a small transmitter/button that she wears around the house, an emergency button in the shower, and a small pager-like device that utilizes the cell phone network when she’s away from the house (it’s cheaper if you don’t get that).  It’s less expensive than assisted living (if your parents will even go), and it’s worth it for peace of mind.

[fishnut 2,358]

I also used life alert for my grandma and she had to use it several times, I was the first call and my mom was the second if no answer at either it was programmed to call the police. 

If you have any questions about elderly care feel free to pm me. My wife works for a company that places in home care givers. No sales pitches for her employer, she will answer any questions you may have or give you some info you never thought of. We've been through it as we lived with and cared for my wife' grandmother for 8 years and cared for my grandmother who lived a few miles away until they passed away. 

 

[Mrs. Peel 7,157]

My dad has Life Alert... shockingly, he ordered it himself (after refusing to do so after my brother and I recommended it numerous times before... I guess once a stubborn mule... always a stubborn mule! LOL).

In any event, the only time it was used is when he was grating Parmesan cheese in his kitchen and accidently pressed the pendant around his neck ... oh dear, they sent the cavalry!! The downside is he's hard of hearing, so if he hadn't see the flashing lights..?... yeah, they would have busted through the front door... and that would have been the most expensive block of Italian cheese EVER.

But, nonetheless, it IS a potentially life-saving service that seems worth it for the extra peace of mind. BTW, we test the gadgets monthly as directed to make sure they're operational and so far we've not had a problem.

27 minutes ago, fishnut said:

If you have any questions about elderly care feel free to pm me. My wife works for a company that places in home care givers. No sales pitches for her employer, she will answer any questions you may have or give you some info you never thought of. We've been through it as we lived with and cared for my wife' grandmother for 8 years and cared for my grandmother who lived a few miles away until they passed away. 

FYI, I took up this offer myself at one point and got on the phone with "Mrs. Fishnut, The Eldercare Expert Extraordinaire". She was a fountain of information! We'll be moving to a live-in companion situation at some point soon and she just quickly laid out all the common pitfalls of that particular situation as well as what we needed to do to mitigate the risks. And yes, indeed, she mentioned things I never even would have considered... like if a companion is in the house 24x7, they get "tenant's rights" - which can be a big old can of worms. So, after a quick 15 min call, I felt "armed with information". Soooo helpful! She's a good egg. 

[10X 3,296]

I’d avoid anything from ConnectAmerica, whose products include Medical Alert, Alert 911, Alert 365, and Caregiver365.   My parents used them, and despite a lot of verbiage on their website about round the clock monitoring of system and connection health, when my parents moved to assisted living and disconnected the phone, no alert was generated.  For 4 months, the system was stone dead, and ConnectAmerica never sounded an alarm (but they kept up the automatic billing).  When I finally found the unit, I called and cancelled the service, and shipped back the hardware, whereupon they continued to bill for another six months!   I had a signed receipt for the package arriving at the ConnectAmerica office, and they told me that only proved I had sent a box, not the hardware.   It took almost a year and a lot of legal threats to get it cleared up, and I remain livid that for the first 4 months they didn’t respond to a ‘system offline’ error, and so had no idea if my parents were ok or not. 

[siderman 1,137]

good info so far, thanx.  she will not be doing any assisted/shared living if she can help it! VERY obstinate and a chain smoker to boot!  I think the carcinogens in her blood system is whats keeping her going, nothing else could survive in her body lol, 87 yrs old.......

[MedicYeti 96]

I’m a paramedic recovering from surgery so I’m cross trained in 9-1-1 dispatch until I return to the street. I have a little insight from the other side of these devices. If you don’t know: the alert company receives the alarm, tries to contact the owner and get some information. If the person is having an emergency or if the company can’t reach the owner the company will call the 9-1-1 center covering the owner. A little information is exchanged and resources are sent. Life Alert and some others will give a call back number for their monitoring facility, a reference number and sometimes a clients number along with the client name and major medical history. They will call back a little later and follow up (they want a simple disposition like accidental, pt transported to the hospital or “he won’t be needing your services any more”). I am not responsible for trying to contact family members when these alerts come in. Make sure whatever company you use will contact you. I would prefer to deal with one of the companies that give 9-1-1 a call back number and a reference number if I were getting one for my mother. 

There are a number of companies that will call and just give the address and nothing more. They don’t even give me a call back number so if the occupant is in bad shape I can’t get in touch with them for them to notify Family. 

Just some things to think about. 

[siderman 1,137]

2 hours ago, MedicYeti said:

I’m a paramedic recovering from surgery so I’m cross trained in 9-1-1 dispatch until I return to the street. I have a little insight from the other side of these devices. If you don’t know: the alert company receives the alarm, tries to contact the owner and get some information. If the person is having an emergency or if the company can’t reach the owner the company will call the 9-1-1 center covering the owner. A little information is exchanged and resources are sent. Life Alert and some others will give a call back number for their monitoring facility, a reference number and sometimes a clients number along with the client name and major medical history. They will call back a little later and follow up (they want a simple disposition like accidental, pt transported to the hospital or “he won’t be needing your services any more”). I am not responsible for trying to contact family members when these alerts come in. Make sure whatever company you use will contact you. I would prefer to deal with one of the companies that give 9-1-1 a call back number and a reference number if I were getting one for my mother. 

There are a number of companies that will call and just give the address and nothing more. They don’t even give me a call back number so if the occupant is in bad shape I can’t get in touch with them for them to notify Family. 

Just some things to think about. 

Thank you, and have a good recovery.