I subscribed to alert usa for my mother which is one of those services that has her wear a pendant which has a button that alerts the service to call paramedics or other community emergency services. I found it very unsatisfactory and was hoping there might be someone here who could tell me where i might find some info on which are the best ones. Not a comparison of them, but which are the better more reliable ones. Thank you.

my mother has life alert bracelet, she traveles from oakland to la a lot,she never takes it off. this is very helpful because she travels alone a lot of times.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Bunnys_grl,

Good Morning!
I just found this topic, so possibly you've found a system that works for you.
If you have a Radio Shack in your area, they have a telephone alert system. You pay them for the pendant and a little box and that's it.
You record a short message (i.e "Spanky needs help, please come quickly!") and program the system to dial 4 numbers. When a button is pushed on the pendant, the machine starts dialing through the numbers. When the phone is answered, the listener has a couple of options.
There is also a second button on the pendant. When the two are pushed at the same time, the unit emits an ear-splitting shriek that will summon the caregiver from another room, or even from outside!
It worked well for us for a while, until my husband started taking it off because he didn't want that thing around his neck.
Hope I've helped someone with this information.
You have all been a big help to me!

We use Lifeline. Mother wears the necklace all the time, even in the shower. They check once a month to make sure everything is working. If she punches the button, I have it arranged that the EMTs will come out and check on her. They don't charge for picking up elderly folks in our county. Anyway, she had used it a couple of times and it worked beautifully. We got a cell phone when she was in the nursing home recuperating and she didn't know how to use it. I got 300 minutes prepaid and she used that in one day because she didn't turn off the phone. I didn't know how to use it either and thought you pushed the off button to hang up. Then I couldn't get hold of Mother so I went down to the cell phone place and griped. They gently told me that the cell phone has to be turned on to work. Who knew? We now have a regular phone that is like a cell phone so I think we'll have better luck in the future if we need a cell phone. I'm thinking of getting a couple of them for Christmas and having one of the young folks at school program them so mother can punch one button and get me, and vice versa. I want one of those Motorola phones that is like the old Star Trek communicators. I remember watching Star Trek and thinking how cool it would be to be able to communicate like that. Now we can just flip open our communicators and call for Scotty to beam us up.

I just learned that Sprint offers the GPS service to phones within a family plan for $10 a month. Combined with this phone: http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/lg-migo-kids-phone I think it might be cheaper in the long run, and more useful than one of the call necklaces.

Our LO's cell shares minutes on our plan for $10 a month. So that would be about $20 a month, but we have full phone service between us. If you could just remotely turn on the speaker phone, it would be PERFECT for elder use. (When ours is having a bad spell, she can't always figure out how to answer the cell phone, ie open it and say hello.)

quote:

Originally posted by T.O.R.P.:

quote:

Originally posted by Bunnys_grl:
Torp that phone is a Disney product (WAAY cool! )
Man! never have to wonder where your kids are (or their phone if lost or stolen) I sent the website out to all of my family and friends. Oh theres gonna be a bunch o pissy kids out der when their moms and dads sneak up on em! lol!
heres their addy...

http://disneymobile.go.com/disneymobile/home.do

That's it! Thanks, BG.

My daughter tells me that some of the other cellular companies are now offering this as a service as well for any GPS equipped phone (which is most of them these days). She said that some of her friends' parents have this service for locating lost phones. (And if that's their story, they should stick with it. hee hee)

Amen ta dat Sista! LOL! Look out kiddies we be on ta ya!

I forgot I have a cousin that works at Verizon wireless and he says most of the new phones do have GPS tech in them now. Way to go! I got my eye on dat "chocolate" phone now! What a beauty that is! Tee hee! Oh Hunny?! Where you aaaaattt?! Kin ya hear me now?!

quote:

Originally posted by Bunnys_grl:
Torp that phone is a Disney product (WAAY cool! )
Man! never have to wonder where your kids are (or their phone if lost or stolen) I sent the website out to all of my family and friends. Oh theres gonna be a bunch o pissy kids out der when their moms and dads sneak up on em! lol!
heres their addy...

http://disneymobile.go.com/disneymobile/home.do

That's it! Thanks, BG.

My daughter tells me that some of the other cellular companies are now offering this as a service as well for any GPS equipped phone (which is most of them these days). She said that some of her friends' parents have this service for locating lost phones. (And if that's their story, they should stick with it. hee hee)

Torp that phone is a Disney product (WAAY cool! )
Man! never have to wonder where your kids are (or their phone if lost or stolen) I sent the website out to all of my family and friends. Oh theres gonna be a bunch o pissy kids out der when their moms and dads sneak up on em! lol!
heres their addy...

http://disneymobile.go.com/disneymobile/home.do

quote:

Originally posted by Grieving Daughter:
Has anyone ever heard of a GPS-type system?

There are a few of them out there
http://gps-applications.com/WanderCare100T.htm is one.

I think that there's a new cell phone designed for children that has GPS tracking as well. It *may* have been a Disney product. (Not the firefly; it was another model from a different manufacturer.) I do remember that part of the marketing was that it made kids safer because they could be instantly located in case of abduction. I remember thinking when reading about it that it might be handy for dementia patients who wander.

quote:

Originally posted by Grieving Daughter:
Has anyone ever heard of a GPS-type system?

As a matter of fact they have something like this check out the article TORP placed in "News and research" titled new monitoring technology. their using this in a nursing home situation...

Has anyone ever heard of a GPS-type system?

I recently purchased a system and it works wonderfully. It was at www.quietcare.com
It doesnt require the person to press a button, which is what I was worried about with my mother. What if she falls and is too hurt to press a button? The system monitors the person and it is very moderatley priced! I hope this helps you out, I have had nothing but great experinces with it!
~Anita

Hello "New to this" and welcome here goes a good one...
http://medicalalarm.com/?OVRAW=home%20alert%20for%20the...0help&OVMTC=advanced

Now if this isnt what your looking for you can also try calling a home alarm company like ADT they also have "Medic alerts"
Hope this helps

My mom has had several small strokes and TIAs and although she normally doesn't have problems walking (using walker or cane), there are times when she falls. My brother is with her 24/7 so there isn't a need for a med alert service, but we'd like to get something like that that would alert him that she's having problems when he's in another room and can't hear her calling, or that will wake him if she should get up during the night and then fall.

If anyone has found something that works, would love to hear about it. Just need it to be something she'd have with her, regardless, so we'd given up on bells, etc as being good choices.

May, I got mine at the local feed & seed. I have used bells on doorknobs and other home-rigged alert devices for kids, critters and now elders, to keep me "informed" of their activities... My favorite for the door is a thin string of little tiny bells from India - they have such a merry sound!

Hiya Pat, and welcome!! Yeah, you right - Mom can ring that thing with GUSTO, but even a feeble ring is quite audible. ROTFLMAO!!!

Moms Buddy, Love your medical alert.We had a small group of bells on the door to the out side as mother was one to wander.Wish I had gone to the farm and gotten a cow bell.

quote:

her medic-alert is a COWBELL

And I'll bet she knows how to use it too

Great idea!

Pat

Since Mom is not ambulatory, her medic-alert is a COWBELL which I can hear from most of my home and property. The monthly service is zero and the cowbell is made of metal so it will not shatter like the china bell she had before.

Pat, I too want to welcome you.You certainly have so much information to share.Thank you>

Hi and thanks for the welcome. I operate my own forum on AD and related dementias, but won't advertise that here. One of my mods has been a member here for a long time and, upon seeing her name here, I thought I'd join and share my experience. I actually found a resource here from Google regarding VA benefits that I hadn't seen before, which is what brought me here.

I tend to get very technical in my postings, so I'll learn more about posting etiquette here before contributing more.

BTW, the two devices I mentioned in this thread have literally saved my sanity No understatement.

Pat