For many seniors, the prospect of living alone after a spouse passes away can be quite unsettling. It is a time of immense loneliness as well as putting the senior into a state of uncertainty. What if he should suffer a medical emergency or slips and falls and can’t get to a phone? Such fear is often enough to cause many of the elderly to reluctantly agree to move into an assisted living arrangement, but it doesn’t necessarily need to come down to such a stark choice. Advancements in senior alert systems now make it possible for many seniors to live self-sufficiently in the comfort of familiar surroundings.
Fear of having a medical emergency and being unable to reach the phone in order to call for help is probably the greatest fear that both seniors as well as their families have. The scenario of an elderly person falling and not being able to get up to call for help has become fodder for late night comedians, but to the elderly, living alone is no laughing matter. The prospect of being stranded on the floor for many agonizing hours, or in some cases even days, is a very real and justified fear. In some of these same cases, seniors have suffered even greater injury or even death from exposure and dehydration as a result of being left alone on the floor than from the fall itself.
Prior to making the decision to buy a senior alert system, it’s a good idea to administer a self-assessment of the senior’s fitness to live alone. The general health and existing medical conditions of the senior should be objectively evaluated. Even with a 24/7 call center monitored senior alert system in place, a senior’s medical conditions may require that they seriously consider moving to an assisted living arrangement of hire a caregiver to assist the senior in their home. Impaired mental conditions such as dementia or Alzheimer’s disease my require an otherwise physically healthy senior to be placed into assisted living.
There are two basic types of medical alert system services: a monthly subscription plan and a one-time fee to purchase just the equipment. Monthly plans will have a 24/7 call monitoring center to answer calls placed by seniors. The call center personnel are trained to evaluate the nature of the emergency and either call 911 for actual emergencies or family members for non-emergency situations. Sometimes a senior living alone with become frightened or confused and just need someone to speak with in order to reassure them that everything is all right.
Choosing the right system for a senior does require a little homework and there are many senior alert systems from which to choose. In the end, the effort to research and select a system will be rewarded many times over when an elderly person is able to continue living unassisted and with renewed confidence in the comfort of his own home.