Senior Medical Alert Systems – A Caregiver’s Best Friend

For a caregiver, checking on the needs of your elderly patients as well as their safety is a must. This is especially true when you are working as a private caregiver and your elderly patients are staying in their own home or perhaps in the home of one of their kids. Now, dilemma occurs when you have to go out of the house in order to buy their medicine or if you need to buy your food for lunch or dinner. Leaving an injured or sick elderly patient is a no-no, which is why a lot of people have medical alarms installed inside their homes.

Now medical alarms are good for elderly patients who are bed-ridden or are not able to walk around the house. But in my case, I have an elderly patient who loves walking around the neighbourhood during the afternoon and she does so sometimes without my permission. Of course, I’ve already gotten into trouble a couple of times because I didn’t know that she went out to buy a few things from the supermarket. My patient has a delicate heart disease and it would be unthinkable as to what would happen if something happened while I was not around.

Because her children respected their mother’s wishes to be left living on her own, I suggested that they get a medical alert system designed for elderly patients. These look like normal pendants, but in truth, they’re designed to give off an alarm or signal once the button is pushed during an emergency. When the alarm goes off, someone will call the elderly patient through the phone and will connect the patient to the nearest medical facility. The medical alert systems are not just for health emergencies. The elderly patient can also use the necklace in case of fire or any other emergencies.

If ever you are concerned with your parents or grandparents and would like to make sure that they have the means to contact the hospital, the police or fire department during emergencies, then I suggest you try checking out the Internet. There are lots of companies that offer great medical alarm systems so all you need to do is check them out!

How the Whole Thing Works:

Medical Alert systems are just like your home alarm systems but with a twist. Once the medical alarm system is installed within the phone line, the medical alarm company will give you a set of pendants which you will give to the sickly elderly. These pendants have a small button in the middle in which when the elderly presses the button, a distress signal is triggered and sent to the nearest hospital. Most medical alarm systems are designed into pendants so that the old people will just wear it around their neck while walking inside and outside the house. However, be mindful of the radius or distance covered by the pendant as being too far away from the phone line will not activate the alarm once the button on the pendant is pressed.

Checking out the Merchandise!

If you have already decided in getting a good senior medical alert system, you have to make sure that it is indeed worth your time and money. Some of these alert systems may not be for everyone, so it’s important to check the type of medical alert systems that are available for you. In the old days, it was expensive to get a medical alert system because they were complicated to develop and make. But as time went on, new technologies allowed companies to make medical alarms that were portable enough to be carried around by senior citizens.

Also, not all of these alarms are fashioned as necklaces. Some look like bracelets too. The important thing to check is whether the senior citizen will be able to press the button whenever an emergency occurs.  Of course, you might want to talk about it with your old parents or grandparents. Some elderly people do not like carrying these things around their necks or are too forgetful to remember carrying these things around.

Some companies that make these items give free panic button pendants, bracelets and necklaces if ever you choose to lease the equipment within a set period of time. If ever your parents or grandparents are not uncomfortable of wearing this kind of device around their neck or on their hands, just lovingly remind them that this is for their own safety and that you and your siblings and relatives care about their safety as well. As they all say, a crown of grey hair means wisdom, so I’m pretty sure your old parents or grandparents will understand.

About the Author:

Jessica Greenberg is a caregiver from San Diego, California. If she’s not too busy writing about the importance of medical alert systems within her blog, she spends most of her time shopping for good blinds and decors for her apartment or playing with her two cuddly pugs.

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