Were you aware falls and other home accidents account for more trips to the hospital for our elderly than do both strokes and heart attacks? With a personal emergency response system your loved one can have help faster. Getting treatment quickly is the most important factor to increase their likelihood of a successful recovery, and being able to continue living on their own.
When an elderly person falls and cannot summon help, the risk to both their recovery, and their life is very high. If they are wearing a personal emergency response system pendant, they can call for help from wherever the accident occurs, and not need to attempt to get to a phone. Many times, if the injury is severe, they may not be able to reach a telephone and make the critical call for help.
Depending on your needs, you can buy a fully monitored system, or a system designed to call a series of pre-programmed numbers. The monitored system will call the national monitoring center, who will have information on your protected individual, and will first try to talk to the person on the speaker phone to determine the extent of their problem. If the situation requires assistance, or they cannot respond, the monitoring company will contact emergency services, and have help on the way. With the system with pre-programmed numbers, when the button is pushed on the pendant, it will start with the first programmed number, and cycle through all of the numbers until contact has been made. If all of the normal numbers of family and friends fail to make a contact, it will dial 911 to request assistance from emergency services.
A pre-programmed system is going to be your lower cost option, normally with no monthly fees. You are getting less services with the pre-programmed personal emergency response system. You do not have regularly scheduled testing of the system. You will not have the aid of professionally trained personnel to determine the exact kind of help needed. You will be relying on friends and family to quickly make a judgement and take action. If you have 4 or 5 numbers programmed into the system and no one is home, you can be losing valuable minutes while it dials through all of the numbers seeking assistance.
For higher risk individuals choosing a monitored personal emergency response system will likely be your best choice. Make sure to check if the monitoring service will continue to work if you relocate your family member. Don’t overlook any of the expenses associated to a monitored system. The last thing you need is the surprise of larger than expected bills. Make sure your family member knows how to use the system, and all the types of situations where it is appropriate. Many monitored services offer a much wider range of options for assisting your family member with questions or other concerns.
Whichever system you choose, having a personal emergency response system is an ideal way to protect and help in the case of a home accident or fall.
