Need Device To Summon Medical Help For Elderly Person

B

Bruise Lee

Joined
Aug 4, 2002
Messages
363
My mother just suffered a stroke and is in the hospital. Thank god she was able to call 911 for help even though it was dark in her bedroom and she had fallen. I also thank God the stroke did not affect her memory, her speech, or any of her higher brain functions. She is an amazingly tough woman; one day after her stroke she was already going down the corridor with the help of a walker and going to the bathroom herself without the help of a nurse! Not bad for someone who is eighty!

I think I've seen advertisements for a MedicAlert type bracelet that a person can wear and then hit a panic button that summons help in an emergency. Does anybody know the name of this product? Is there more than one type of thing like this available? How much does it cost?

Is there any advantage of this sort of equipment over a cell phone? I would think it would be easier to use because you just have to press one button. I know that my mother forgot my sister's phone number during her attack. We all know that fine motor skills go out the window during high stress situations.

I would greatly appreciate any advice anyone might have for helping take care of an elderly stroke victim. I know my mom can't go on living on her own anymore, but I'm hoping she will be o.k. on her own as long we have someone with her at least a few hours a day. She hasn't even started physical therapy yet, so it's impossible to say at this point just how much assistance she will need.

Bruise
 
The thing you're thinking of, the "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up!" thing, is called Life Alert.
 
Also check with your local agency on aging or her physician. My Gram had one she wore around her neck (she looked like a rapper wearing a clock :eek: ) and one time she fell and hit the button and the company called. When she couldn't get up to answer the phone, they sent the ambulance.
 
Walking Man and Ron Andersen I want to thank the both of you for sparing me from a guy making tasteless jokes at the expense of my mother. Even the lowest street hoodlum wouldn't stoop so low as to make fun of somebody's mother who just had a stroke. That's just inconceivably tasteless. I'm shocked and saddened.
 
I have an old family friend who is 80+ and she suffered a stroke sometime around christmas last year. I live quite far away from her so really can't take care of her but me and my wife do check up on her once in awhile to make sure she's okay.

Her son died a few years back from liver cancer or something like that and her grandson in Canada doesn't visit her that often. So she has to rely on us and her neighbours.

Anyway, she has that thing on the neck as well. It works well and is better than a cellphone. I think what it does is it dials the emergency response team for her if she falls down or whatever. Using a cellphone is going to be tricky when you're down. Especially with such a small keypad.

The big problem now with her is she's stubborn. She can't go upstairs anymore so we suggested to bring her bed down and sacrifice the dining table but she doesn't agree. What she has been doing is sleeping on the chair. That hasn't been good on her legs and she can barely walk now. It's just very difficult being a non-family member 'cos we can't tell her off. It's been very difficult trying to persuade her to do things. We told her to make a bathroom downstairs so she doesn't need to go upstairs and she did. But, her grandson offered to pay for it and she refused. I don't know what went through her mind at the time. Now she's complaining she has to save up money to buy the sofabed we suggested since she doesn't want to bring the bed downstairs.

There's so many things that the elderly do that i don't understand. I guess they're just on a different wavelength than me. Whatever it is, just make sure you keep in touch with her often. Call her everyday or every other day to make sure she's okay and not lonely.
 
As suggested, call the local council on aging or home health service. They can tell you what system is popular in the area, plus you can introduce yourself...you'll most likely be needing their services anyway. I work with 100+ seniors in a retirement complex...if you have any questions, feel free to contact me ;)
 
Try to find a wireless service if possible. My Mother (92 and lives independently) has one of the "wear around the neck" deals. It works, but there is no service if the phone line is out. We are trying to find a local service that offers wireless.
 
Bruce Lee and Walking Man,

You're both welcome for the intervention. And thanks to Walking Man for the "heads up."

Sorry to anyone who had to witness that post.

NOTE TO KEYSER SOZE: Consider this a pre-warning that another similar instance could be basis for banning. Contact me if you have any questions.
 
Buise, sorry to here about your Mom's troubles, but I'm glad she's up and about . My Granny in 94 and lives with my parents here in CH (we just need to get my bro here and the whole family is in one spot). She fell out of bed one night last week around 4:30am and couldn't get up. She's still tracking pretty well, but pain, sleep disorientation, and possibly meds led to her forgetting she had the med alert braclet (a better option than the necklace, imho) for a bit, but she eventually remembered and triggered it. The call back was immediate, Dad heard the responding person through Granny's speakerphone (he was sleepless for some reason, and was reading in the living room, though he still couldn't hear her). He got her back up and in bed, and cleared everything with the service. They still called me within a couple of minutes to let me know that she'd fallen, but was okay. I'm at the top of the list after my folks, no one else was contacted. Long winded way to say I'm a fan, and the service works very well. Worth it for everyone's peace of mind as far as I'm concerned.
 
yeah, when an elderly person falls, it can get quite scary.
How much are these services? Sounds like a plan to use both phone line based service and a wireless provider. (even GPS sounds plausible)
 
There are many vendors. I am a distributor for Health Watch. In addition to the usual panic button system, they have a fall monitor. It detects if the wearer falls and sends an alarm.

i believe ADT (division of Tyco) makes a system that uses cell phones and GPS technology, so it can be used even if they are out of the house.
 
First of all I hope the Bruise Lee has been able to find an appropriate tool to help his mother summon aid. I would also like to apologize to him if the photo was taken in a wrong light.

I had planned on writing this much sooner but work has had me traveling all over and I could not find the time.

Initially I just skimmed the post and did not did not see the personal nature of the question. Even at that I intended to inject some humor into an otherwise depresing situation by posting a picture of a "FLARE GUN" an item commonly used to summon aid in numerous emergency situations. Maybe my humor is a little darker than most, due to my being involved in law enforcement for over 10 years and dealing with nasty situations on a daily basis.


Again Bruise Lee I do hope that your mother is recovering well and has the help that she needs.

**Edited** Since the discovery of the actual problem and gory picture that appeared due to some type of server cache glich, I would like to say I would have reported it myself. I just wanted people to know that the photo that appeared was not what I was able to see and I would not have posted that photo for any reason under this context.***

KS
 
Well, that was a month ago.... I guess you must have posted the wrong picture by mistake, because that wasn't any picture of a flare gun. I'll email it to you so you can see what all the fuss was about.
 
I've been corresponding with Keyser Soze and we've figured out it was a computer screw-up, and not his fault at all. He was seeing a cached picture of a flare gun at the url where we were seeing a picture of somebody with a bloody ankle wound. This is the picture that he intended to post:

attachment.php
 

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