If you are like many adult children with aging parents who live alone, you may find yourself worrying about mom or dad’s safety. It takes very little for an elderly person to end up with months of hospitalizations, medical bills or rehabilitation: one fall can do it. And when you add in the likelihood of medical issues that may require a senior to need immediate attention, it is apparent why so many families turn to home medical alert systems to help protect their aging parents and family members.
It can be challenging however, to sort through the hundreds of home medical alert systems on the market. To start, it is best to learn how these systems are meant to work. Most fall into one of two categories: those with a round the clock monitoring service, and those that have no service, and only provide the equipment.
Home medical alert systems with a monitoring service typically include a written service agreement between the customer and monitoring company. Once in place, the monitoring service responds when the alert device is activated, and then contacts the agreed upon people or emergency personnel.
When choosing a home medical alert system that has a monitoring service, always factor in the cost of the monitoring, as it can easily range between $30-$40 per month. In addition, there is usually an installation or activation fee.
If your aging parents don’t really require round the clock monitoring however, there is no reason to pay for it, as many perfectly fine home medical alert systems consist only of the equipment. The benefit, of course, is that this is far more economical as the only cost is for the basic equipment: there is no monthly monitoring service fee.
In a system that does not include monitoring, when the device is activated, the call will go directly to the numbers that have been programmed: depending on the system chosen, family, friends, or possibly emergency personnel.
Home medical alert systems certainly cannot take your place, but they can provide security to the elderly person and peace of mind for the family of aging family members who worry about their safety.
While worrying about the security of your aging parents may keep you up at night, a response system can provide you peace of mind, and help for your elderly loved one. Before you make a decision, find out about the various home medical alert systems that are available, and see if LifeStation is the right one for your elderly family member.
Tags: aging, aging home care, elderly, elderly home care, health, home, home alert systems, home care, home medical alert systems, medical, medical alert systems, personal emergency response systems, senior home care, seniors