Your Aging Parents Have A Personal Emergency Response System – Do They Test It Monthly?
Posted by in Aging | Fall Prevention | Health | Home Health Care | Long Term Care Insurance | Medicare
For Every Senior Who Has an Emergency Response Button, You Must Test it Monthly to Make Sure it Works and Keeping You Protected.
It is so gratifying to see more and more clients who already have PERS button on their wrist or around their neck—especially when they live alone. We recommend to all clients and patinets to get such a system so that should they fall, help is immediately available by pressing a button.
The Pros of such a device are multiple:
*After a fall, limited waiting on floor, often in pain, for help to arrive.
*Your parent is known to the company and their vital info is stored, unlike with a 9-1-1 call.
*Emergency contacts (family members, sons, daughters) are notified of the incident and whether your parent is taken to the hospital.
*It can also be used as a security system for added peace of mind.
We at Boca Home Care Services believe it is a great gift that parents can give to their out of state children in particular. Often Adult children worry about their parent’s safety and the “what ifs”.
Yesterday I met a new client who has Congestive Heart Failure, just came out of the hospital, uses a walker and is feeling very weak. She showed me her PERS and said she hasn’t worn it in awhile even though she pays for it. However, this last hospital stay has scared her and now she won’t go without it.
I asked whether she tests it every month. She didn’t know what I meant. I asked does she press the button once a month to make sure it is working and that a representative from the call center responds to her signal? She said “no” she “hadn’t thought about that”. So we tested it, she pressed it 4 times and nothing happened, no phone call to check what the matter is.
She was stunned, got her personal phone book and called the company and left a message. She learned her lesson! It is a lesson I hope everyone with a Personal Emergency Response System will learn. The button is only good if it connects to help on the other end. Like smoke detectors and changing batteries, it is a good idea to press the button every month and test to make sure it is working in the event you do have an emergency. The companies expect such tests of their equipment.
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Good advice on testing the medical alert systems. Just like any other life saving device, a PERS unit needs to be tested each month to make sure the emergency call is getting out and to make sure the person using the unit is comfortable with the operation.