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Common Concerns the Elderly Have About Medical Alert Systems
By Christina Mulberry
Millions of the elderly live on their own. Their family may live within a few miles or perhaps half way across the country. Being able to maintain independence is a common goal for most individuals as they age, but concern can grow over time about their safety due to problems with balance, strength, endurance, or other health related issues. The concern centers around the question of whether or not they will be able to summon help when needed. Certainly some seniors opt to live within communities which provide monitoring that can help alleviate these concerns. However, for those living within their own home, there are medical alert systems that can also provide a sense of security and potentially prevent disastrous delays in obtaining help when needed. I am a caregiver for my 82 year old mother who lives on her own, nearly an hour drive from my home. As she doesn't wish to move but has some strength and balance issues, we both felt that having a medical alert system would be a good choice. As we began searching for a suitable system, we had quite a few questions and concerns that had to be addressed before we took the step to install one. We made our selection after about 8 weeks of searching and discussing. I want to share what our main concerns were and what we discovered after installing the system. I don't sell medical alarm systems and won't benefit if you too decide to make a purchase, but hopefully this information will help you in your decision making process. First a brief description of how medical alarm systems operate is in order. We found basically two types of devices. The most common is a monitored system. Most of these offer a two-way speaker phone which is activated by a help button that the user wears. An attendant contacts the user over the speaker phone once activated. They can converse directly with the user to determine what, if any help is needed. They can then send EMS or another designated person to their home to provide assistance. If the user is unable to communicate, then the attendant generally contacts EMS to respond immediately. Most of these systems charge a monthly fee for monitoring but the user does not pay for the equipment. The second type of device is unmonitored. In this instance, the equipment is purchased but there is no monthly monitoring fee. The user programs in phone numbers for the device to call when they activate the help button they're wearing. Generally, the user will program the device to call 911 after it first attempts to contact other responders that they designate. Most of these are one way speaker phones and so, two way conversation isn't possible but help is summoned. One concern my mother had, probably like many elderly individuals, was that she would be summoning EMS everytime she had a small need. This is not the case. With the unmonitored system of course, the user identifies who it calls. This call list is the same in every circumstance. This certainly avoids unnecessary calls to EMS but, on the other hand, could delay help in instances where they're in dire need as the system runs through other calls first if that's what the user has programmed into the device. The monitored systems varied. Nearly all of them of course allow the user to tell the attendant who to call, but in instances where the user can't communicate, some systems always call 911 first. This certainly is the safest way to go, but for my mother this wasn't acceptable. Thus, we opted for a system that would allow her to designate one of her family members as the person to contact first, even when the attendant couldn't establish communication with her. This may not be the safest option, but it's the one that assured my mother wouldn't hesitate to use the help button when she needed. A second concern my mother voiced was that the speaker phone would not pick up her voice. We inquired about getting a second device for her home so that she would be closer to one at any given time. Almost all of the systems recommended that only one device be located in the home. Reportedly, if you have two of them, there is a tendency for them to cancel each other out. We identified the systems that had the greatest operating range stated in their literature and chose one to try. We installed the Rescue Alert device in May 2009. In testing, the help button easily operated throughout her 1800 square foot condo, through walls, around corners, in the shower, through closed doors and even out in her garage, in the back yard, and out by her mailbox. Next we contacted an attendant at the monitoring center and tested the voice reception. My mother's voice is not strong, but again the test results were very impressive to me. She could be heard from every location within her condo and even on her sun porch. She then went out into her garage, shutting the door behind her, and although I could barely hear her as I stood there, the attendant heard her without any problem. In addition, they were able to pick up her voice when my mother went outside and down her driveway. The other concern of course is cost. In some instances family members are paying the cost of a medical alarm system for a parent, and are trying to balance this with their own expenses. In other cases, an elderly individual is on a fixed income and any additional cost can be a burden. In general, you should be able to find a system to fit your budget. If the system will be used for several years, buying the system outright is sometimes an option that can save money. Not all systems offer this option, but some do. Certainly the unmonitored systems can save in this same manner. The Rescue Alert medical alert system that we selected offered the best price when opting to pay annually versus monthly. The annual cost was around $263, a cost that is reasonable for most individuals. In the end, we learned that medical alert systems offer users flexibility which allows them to provide individual response plans, that the systems really do offer equipment that can do the job well, and that there are a number of options which can make such systems affordable. |
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This intel was contributed by mulberry
mulberry
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February, 2012
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