Have any of you used one of these services, and if so, do you have any advice or recommendations? It has been recommended for Mom more than once, and I think she is almost at the point where she might grudgingly agree, after her recent fall.
Have any of you used one of these services, and if so, do you have any advice or recommendations? It has been recommended for Mom more than once, and I think she is almost at the point where she might grudgingly agree, after her recent fall.
Make sure she will wear it before you get it. At Mom's senior apartment community there are numerous instances of relatives providing the service and the person needing it refusing to wear the device. One woman fell outside and was not wearing hers. Some refuse to wear it inside. The stories are endless.
Without recommending a specific brand or service, I've been on plenty of emergency calls where the alert service definitely helped with a positive outcome.
That said, over the past year, I've been involved in testing the Apple Watch for this application, and it seems to offer some good possibilities for some folks' needs and might offer a good alternative to a subscription/monitoring service.
Mom has never used a computer and she was unable to master a Fitbit or a Jitterbug smartphone due to her Early Alzheimer's. I'm not personally familiar with the Apple watch, but am I right in assuming this might not be for her given the cognitive issues?
This is a timely question for me. Having fallen in June, we live in an area with poor cell service, still have a land line and I wonder how to judge the best service. I think I'll ask at the fire department...they know the issues in the area concerning cell use. thanks for giving me a push to find out. The physical therapist said to call the senior citizens center in the county.
Rosa, if she can’t do the jitterbug phone she can’t do a Apple Watch.
Good input on the Apple watch though, because that could be a decent option for us computer-literate folks at some point.
I'm going to ask another question which might be a bit more controversial. Mom says she asks God every night to take her before morning. My sister and I both respect that desire, although we don't come at it from a religious viewpoint. Neither of us want to outlive our brains - sisters' suicide pact! So if Mom really doesn't want to have one of these services, how hard should I push? We are all for anything to alleviate or avoid suffering, but not necessarily to promote longevity. The line between the two is often kind of fuzzy.
I think it is one of life's cruel joke that older women fall and break their hips, when it would be so much nicer if they/we could fall on our heads and get it over with quickly. I'm big on quality over quantity.
I would let her make the choice. My mom refused to go to a home when she was so sick with cancer that she wasn’t safe. We supported her decision. We did take turns going and staying with her the last year but she was alone a lot because none of us lived in her town. She didn’t want a monitoring device. She fell and laid in her own waste for 24 hours. She went to a hospice place and was dead in a week. She should also have a DNR.
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