I have to admit something.  Though I do not consider her to be frail or unable to take care of herself, I am concerned that my Mother could fall and be unable to let anyone know her predicament for hours, or dare I say it, a day or two.  My sister lives close, I live quite a distance away. Though, we check in with her everyday, a day lying helpless between contact is more of a possibility than I’d like to consider.  Actually, 1 minute of her lying helpless is more than I want to think about.

I came across an article that discussed a possibility that I have been considering: a medical alert system.  Just like everything with technology today there are many options of systems and many different features with each option.  And also it is best to judiciously consider what you need and want in order to find the system that is the best fit for your situation.

Things you might want to consider:

• Does the system work with a voice over internet protocol telephone service?  My Mother does not have this type of phone service, so it does not apply in her case.  But if the system does not work in conjunction with the user’s phone service, the system would be rendered useless.
• Do I install it myself, or will someone do it for me?  Many system manufacturers will send a representative to insure proper installation for a small one-time fee.
• Does the system have an automatic fall detection feature?  Many systems today will detect the user has fallen and automatically trigger a call for help.  Someone much smarter than me can explain how it works, I only care that it does.

This article is full of great information for the consumer to properly select a medical alert system.  You can find the rest of the article by clicking here.

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Please comment with any experiences you have had with medical alert systems.