4 replies to this topic

[sikadear]

My mother had decided she wants a medical alarm system similar to what is found at www.medicalalarm.com.

Anyone here using one or knows someone that does? Any recommendaion for or against what's out there? Thanks.

[firemedic396]

Sika, I work as a FF/paramedic and see all of the different systems available. I haven't dealt with medical alarm that you have mentioned, but I can say that Life Alert is a pretty good company to deal with. The only thing that I can reccomend to you is that you should call your emergency services center (in some places there's 911 available and in others it's another agency that handles EMS dispatch), and ask them if the medical alarm system is compatible with their dispatching capabilities. If not, then ask them which company is capable and make your decisions from there. If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM me and I will do my best to answer them. Additionally, I would reccomend that you go a commercial chain drug store like CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, etc and purchase a vial of life. It looks like a large medicine bottle and inside of it has a form that you fill out with all of her pertinent medical information like name/address/age/DOB/SSI#/medical history/medications/allergies/hospital preference/physician and many others so that in the event of an emergency, anything that a paramedic or EMT would need to know is covered and it speeds the delivery of care rendered. It also eliminates the posibilties of either forgetting some of the information or God forbid, that she is unable to speak for herself that the information can do that for her. Hope that helps a little bit Greg

Edited by firemedic396, 30 May 2010 - 04:52 AM.

[sikadear]

Great points. Thanks!

[Spirithawk]

Both my wife and I have one and it's handy indeed, I always worried when going somewhere and leaving her alone. We have what's called a Guardian Alert 911. Most allert systoms connect you to a monitoring office who then calls the apropriate number needed. Also there are rental and monitoring fees. Our's was $160 but that's total cost. This you buy out right and it's your's! You plug in it's base to an AC outlet ( Also has option of back-up battery ) and connect it to a phone line and then wear the unit on a chain around your neck or keep it by your bed at night. It's just a touch bigger than a Zippo lighter. In ANY kind of an emergency you just hit the button and it imediately dials your local 911 through your phone line. No having to be routed through elsewhere first. When seconds count, cutting out the middle man can be the differance between life and death. It has a speaker on the part you wear so you can talk directly to the 911 operater and, if unable to talk, say in a burglary, the operater can hear everything going on! As I said, it covers all emergencies, not just medical. We bought ours localy at our pharmacy but think they sell on Ebay too. Also, since it deals directly with your local 911, there's no worry about the company going out of buiseness rendering your espensive unit a worthless paper weight!

There's also a free site on-line called Med. Allert. They offer a free medical emergency card you carry in your wallet. You simply fill in the blanks for doctors names and numbers, allergies, medical problems and all your prescriptions, hit print and it prints out in a card form. It's your's free at no cost. On the front it plainly says Medical Allert for any emergency worker to see! Every time I go to the hospital I simply hand them mine and it saves a ton of time and exsplaining too.

Edited by Spirithawk, 30 May 2010 - 05:28 PM.

[layna30]

In my experience, I've found that giving my elderly mother her own at least gave me peace of mind in the moments that I was not able to be there for her.  That way, she could get emergency help if she needed, just by pushing a button and nothing else.  Anyways, I find every little bit helps.  Best of luck to everyone in their search.