Medical Alert: Enabling Seniors to Connect Instantly to Caregivers

To fully appreciate the efficiency of a medical alert system in the context of complementing the work of caregivers, let us consider an actual real-world case. Madelyn is a subscriber to one of the leading medical alert system companies. She is 60, with narcolepsy, and lives alone at her own home in California. One day, she decides to change the light bulb in her kitchen. As there is no one else to do the job, and because it is supposedly a simple job of unscrewing the old bulb and replacing it with a new one, she gets up on the short ladder and begins removing the old bulb. At one point, however, the table slightly moves and Madelyn loses her balance and she ends up on the floor, writhing in pain, her hips probably shattered. The phone is on the other side of the house, and if not for the medical alert she’s wearing around her neck, Madelyn’s situation could have been worse. She presses the panic button, contact is made with the medical alert system’s response center, and within minutes one of Madelyn’s registered responders (whose numbers she registered with her medical alert device) arrive to give her assistance as they waited for the ambulance’s arrival. And while Madelyn subsequently endures months of hospitalization (her age and the location of the bone fracture made her condition complicated), it is obvious that things could have been a lot worse if not for the timely response of the medical alert system’s monitoring center. Now, the abovementioned story is not a fairytale—it is actually based on a case file from a medical alert system provider. The lesson here is simple: a medical alert system is designed to allow further flexibility for caregivers. In fact, it smoothly complements—and even extends—the duties of a caregiver in order to give the senior the best care possible. Most medical alert systems can be programmed to register the numbers of the persons that you want to be notified first in the event of an emergency. Most people register the neighbors that they trust, while others register relatives, or their grown children if they happen to live nearby. While notifying next of kin or caregivers, the response center will also send the necessary medical help from the medical facility that is located nearest the patient’s address. The whole system is set up with emphasis on efficiency and speed: in a few minutes, barring other mishaps, able hands are arriving to help. Seniors can connect much faster to caregivers in an emergency with a medical alert, thanks to the device’s single push-button action: there is nothing to confuse the senior wearing the device because there are no other options. You just press it. Also, the wearer does not have to worry about pressing the button by mistake when they don’t even need medical help, the response center understands that such harmless mistakes can occur and, after all, it is better to be mistaken than to be sorry about failing to respond quickly to a real issue. In fact, most medical alert companies want you to test the device periodically by pressing the button and making sure you are comfortable using the system. The medical alert system’s design is so simple. That is why you will never find a medical alert system accompanied with pages and pages of how-to guides. The medical alert system itself is pretty much direct to the point: the package contains nothing but the wearable medical alert device and the base unit. In the end, a medical alert system provides so many benefits and advantages to both the senior and the caregiver that there is hardly any argument against using it. To top it off, the monthly service fee is very reasonable, especially when one considers that the monitoring service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Indeed, ordering a medical alert is one of the best proactive decisions a caregiver can make to bring back quality to a senior’s life.