emergency help button

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This weekend my mother had a minor health emergency, if that is a thing. Thankfully she was visiting my sister who was able to take her to the hospital and she is now recovering.

My sister suggested we get my mother one of those remote "I've fallen and can't get up" buttons. Does anyone have any experience with these? I am still at the early stages of shopping but I happen to be on a very tight budget and a measly $20/month will hurt, although I can manage (I will be paying for this). Of course, I need a service that works :).
 
We had one for my grandma. It worked well, hardest part of the whole thing was getting her to wear it. She would hang it on a kitchen cabinet or her nightstand instead of wearing it.
 
Had one for my mother. It wasn't the LifeLock company. It was half the price of that and worked great. Problem is that people forget they are wearing it and don't use it when they should or they forget to wear it.
 
I think there are cheap cellphone plans that are in the range of $80 a year or less.
 
How do those work, is there a base station that could be in some other room that you have to yell at to reach the operator? Sounds rough if you fall down the basement stairs for example.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
How do those work, is there a base station that could be in some other room that you have to yell at to reach the operator? Sounds rough if you fall down the basement stairs for example.


The button is a speaker and microphone that communicates with the base station. The base station connects to the telephone line.
 
A cellphone is great, provided the user hasn't passed out and is able to use it.

We got Mom signed up with Lifefone last year and got the pendant with fall-monitoring included. Setup was easy and the way it works is that if the base unit is triggered they will respond and check on the person's status, and if there's no answer they assume that help is needed and will notify authorities. The pendant is just a signaling device and all communication is via the base unit.

The only complaint so far is that the pendant is a bit sensitive and she's triggered false alarms due to the pendant thinking she's fallen but really hasn't. The agreement with the company says that she's supposed to test the unit every 30 days or so anyway, so, so far at least, they've counted that activation as a test of the unit.
 
We got my M-I-L a Great Call with fall monitoring, it s basically a cell phone that she wears around her neck. If she is wearing it and falls it should automatically call for assistance. I think the charge lasts a few days on it and it goes wherever she goes assuming she's wearing it. It supposedly waterproof as well.

As was said it is only effective if the person wears it as it is intended; even a quick trip to the bathroom can have a person be injured.
 
Originally Posted By: opus1
A cellphone is great, provided the user hasn't passed out and is able to use it.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too…
 
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