Thanks to companies such as Life Alert, Seniors today enjoy options that Seniors in days past did not have. During my Grandparents' lifetimes, Seniors, generally speaking, were not able to safely live on their own after a serious illness or a fall resulting in one or more broken bones without the assistance of a live-in caregiver. More often than not, Seniors temporarily went to live with grown children or other family members or to live at rehabilitation facilities until they were able to return to their homes or other suitable housing. Today all that has changed, which is helping Seniors to live independently longer and oftentimes for the rest of their lives, as is most often, I am finding, what Seniors desire.
Oh, by the way, I am a senior; although I don't feel at all old.
My two closest experiences with senior safety have been first my Grandmother and most recently my Mom. With my Grandmother, my Mom and Aunts and Uncle and Cousins living closer to Grandma took turns checking on and caring for my Grandmother with one or more of them visiting Grandma a couples times a day or more each day. This worked out fine until Grandma fell one morning and was lying on the floor until 6 or 7 hours later when my Cousin came by to see her. Fortunately, Grandma was not seriously injured in the fall, but she was never allowed by the family to return to her home to live alone again because the family was concerned for her safety. What if she had been bleeding and needed immediate emergency care. That is where Life Alert comes in for my Mom today.
Fast forward 20 years and now Mom, who is adamant that she loves living on her own, especially living close to her younger sister whom she lives one mile from, has a fainting episode with equilibrium issues. After staying with Mom and caring for her for a little over a month, taking her to doctors and making sure she was eating properly to regain her strength and then getting Life Alert for her and a Go Phone that I programmed for her with 8 frequently called telephone numbers that she can dial by pressing only one number at a time to call any of the 8 people, Mom is happily living on her own again.
The object of this blog is to share with Seniors and their Family Members and Friends what a fantastic service Life Alert provides.
Life Alert and Mom's Go Phone/cell phone play a big role in keeping Mom safe. Life Alert installed a unit in her home plus a Fire Alarm in the room where Mom sleeps. As long as Mom is within her home, Mom is able to depress the button on her wristwatch, which Mom wears all the time (The wristwatch is waterproof) and a Life Alert representative will almost immediately be speaking to Mom through the Speaker of the Life Alert unit. If Mom is not able to get to the speaker, the Life Alert Representative, who has Mom's Doctors' numbers, medical information and our family emergency contact information on a computer screen when an alert comes in from Mom's Life Alert Unit, will first contact our 4 family emergency numbers so we can go to help Mom and then contact Mom's Doctor and Paramedics if our family is not able to be reached on our 4 emergency numbers. Of course, if Mom is able to get to the Life Alert Unit, Mom can tell the Life Alert Representative what she needs herself. Also, if Mom were to have someone try to break in to her home, she can tell the Life Alert Representative that someone is breaking in to her home, and the Life Alert Representative will call the Police and stay on the line with Mom until the Police arrive repeating "The Police are on their way." Knock on wood that Mom has never had someone try to break into her home and hopefully never will.
The Go Phone/cell phone, because Mom does not like cell phones, is only for her to use for emergencies and for anything she might need while she is out and about. Mom takes the Go Phone with her whenever she leaves the house so if she needs a ride home from the market, et cetera, she is able to easily call one of the 8 programmed numbers. One of the 8 numbers I programmed in Mom's Go Phone is the Life Alert number so she can contact Life Alert immediately if the need ever arises.
I hope this blog has been informative for any of you who may have been unfamiliar with the services Life Alert offers. Mom and I think They're the Greatest!