Over Thanksgiving, my super-hip and modern 80yo mother mentioned that she wanted to get one of those "I've fallen and I can't get up" devices and a lockbox with a code for helping first responders get into the house. My sister and I talked with her, and I bookmarked some options for her on her iPad, and she said she'd research things when she got back home. And then she fell down, went boom. We need advice. Three days after Thanksgiving, she slipped on the corner of the comforter while stripping the bed, fell into the wall, and badly fractured her wrist and her neck. When she fell, she was able to crawl to the cordless phone (there's one in almost every room) and called 911. (I'd encouraged her to carry around her iPhone instead of the cordless, so she can just shout "Hey, Siri, call 911," but she prefers not to use her iPhone unless she's out of the house. She didn't want an Amazon Echo, even when I explained that it could also handle this issue.)
Meanwhile, when the plumber kept ringing the bell and she didn't answer, he called, and she told him with (amazing) clarity what was happening, and directed him to the neighbor next door, to get the key for the first responders, but the neighbor wasn't home. Eventually, the first responders gently broke in the side door to the garage (that hadn't been used since 1971) and went in through the (miraculously not-locked utility room door). There was some delay in doing this, but not much.
(Because you're MeFites, I know you care, so while she's really pissed that it happened, she's in rehab and doing as well as one can, and maintaining her sense of humor.)
She'll be coming home soon, and she wants us to help her get this squared away. I'm trying to find two solutions.
1) Alert Button Doodad -- She's insistent that she wants something she can wear on her wrist rather than on a necklace/pendant. She liked the general look of the Lively Wearable from Great Call, but says she knows there are sleeker, less bulky ones than the one I showed her at the Great Call site.
I'm not seeing anything nicer/smaller than that, and the HomeSafe ones recommended by her local Visiting Nurses Association has two versions of the button thingie, one (higher end, with fall detection) that they say has to be worn on a pendant, and a lower-tier one that can be worn on an elastic wristband or a watchband. And she thinks both are ugly. (She's super-stylish, does full makeup and hair even when there's a blizzard outside and won't see other humans, and strangers come up to her to compliment her on her looks. The idea of wearing something plastic is abhorent to her, which puts a point in the Lively Wearable vs. the HomeSafe doodad.)
Does the hive mind have any recommendations for an alert button doohickey that:
a) can be worn on the wrist,
b) is not huge (she's got tiny bones for a tall lady), and
c) is reputable?
Possible snowflake: Some of the devices I've seen show a base (like a cordless phone base) but my mom's house is two stories plus a basement and is pretty large -- would it even be able to communicate over that large a space? Wi-Fi gets to the far corners fairly well, but is the size of the space and distance from the base an issue?
And she says she doesn't want the more expensive ones she's seen "with GPS" because she figures if she ever falls anywhere except in the house, there will be people with her, and if she's ill in the car, she can call to Siri.
2) Emergency Access -- The Visiting Nurses Association recommends a lock box (like a realtor box) that can be affixed to the door. I guess there's a code on the box and the code reveals access to an actual key? Their rep will come out for free, show my mom (and my sister, who is visiting during this hospital/rehab/home transition) the features, and sell the lockbox to her for $40. I don't know if this is something that needs to be "installed" or just hooked on the door -- I suspect the latter. They also said you can get them at Home Depot, and the ones I see there are about $10 less, but don't come with a nice visiting rep to patiently explain things. Is there likely an advantage of one type over the other? Is there one best type?
Thanks for any guidance you can provide on either aspect.
Meanwhile, when the plumber kept ringing the bell and she didn't answer, he called, and she told him with (amazing) clarity what was happening, and directed him to the neighbor next door, to get the key for the first responders, but the neighbor wasn't home. Eventually, the first responders gently broke in the side door to the garage (that hadn't been used since 1971) and went in through the (miraculously not-locked utility room door). There was some delay in doing this, but not much.
(Because you're MeFites, I know you care, so while she's really pissed that it happened, she's in rehab and doing as well as one can, and maintaining her sense of humor.)
She'll be coming home soon, and she wants us to help her get this squared away. I'm trying to find two solutions.
1) Alert Button Doodad -- She's insistent that she wants something she can wear on her wrist rather than on a necklace/pendant. She liked the general look of the Lively Wearable from Great Call, but says she knows there are sleeker, less bulky ones than the one I showed her at the Great Call site.
I'm not seeing anything nicer/smaller than that, and the HomeSafe ones recommended by her local Visiting Nurses Association has two versions of the button thingie, one (higher end, with fall detection) that they say has to be worn on a pendant, and a lower-tier one that can be worn on an elastic wristband or a watchband. And she thinks both are ugly. (She's super-stylish, does full makeup and hair even when there's a blizzard outside and won't see other humans, and strangers come up to her to compliment her on her looks. The idea of wearing something plastic is abhorent to her, which puts a point in the Lively Wearable vs. the HomeSafe doodad.)
Does the hive mind have any recommendations for an alert button doohickey that:
a) can be worn on the wrist,
b) is not huge (she's got tiny bones for a tall lady), and
c) is reputable?
Possible snowflake: Some of the devices I've seen show a base (like a cordless phone base) but my mom's house is two stories plus a basement and is pretty large -- would it even be able to communicate over that large a space? Wi-Fi gets to the far corners fairly well, but is the size of the space and distance from the base an issue?
And she says she doesn't want the more expensive ones she's seen "with GPS" because she figures if she ever falls anywhere except in the house, there will be people with her, and if she's ill in the car, she can call to Siri.
2) Emergency Access -- The Visiting Nurses Association recommends a lock box (like a realtor box) that can be affixed to the door. I guess there's a code on the box and the code reveals access to an actual key? Their rep will come out for free, show my mom (and my sister, who is visiting during this hospital/rehab/home transition) the features, and sell the lockbox to her for $40. I don't know if this is something that needs to be "installed" or just hooked on the door -- I suspect the latter. They also said you can get them at Home Depot, and the ones I see there are about $10 less, but don't come with a nice visiting rep to patiently explain things. Is there likely an advantage of one type over the other? Is there one best type?
Thanks for any guidance you can provide on either aspect.