My old mum, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 18 months ago, reluctantly agreed to enter a Care Home whilst I’m overseas on my 6 week jaunt.
To date she isn’t a danger to self, apart from ‘big time’’ short term memory loss, but doesn’t use her oven and I do the majority of her washing, visit daily as she lives locally, and she enjoys her independent life, such as it is.
When I return I’m getting her a ‘fall alarm’...I think a wrist worn one may be better as she can see it...she’ll probably take off a pendant one and forget about it, or lose it ( think false gnashers left on bird table).
Any thoughts please from anyone with experience of such ?
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We are just about to replace my 91 year old dad’s Apple Watch with a more up to date one that has fall detection.
But he still has all his senses about him and uses iPad, iPhone, Alexa etc
Is there something similar available without the cost of Apple?
Big question is will she remember to put it in and/or charge it?
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MiL & a next door neighbour had alarms.
Both fell quite often - the alarms were never on them - on a table / in a bedroom / beside the TV remote.
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>> MiL & a next door neighbour had alarms.
>>
>> Both fell quite often - the alarms were never on them - on a table
>> / in a bedroom / beside the TV remote.
>>
Tell me about it. My mum was exactly the same, we'd go round and find the alarm hanging on a hook on the wall. Eventually the inevitable happened and she had a fall. It was only the fact that my brother had got divorced and moved back in that meant she was "Only" on the floor for seven hours, complete with broken hip. She never got back home again, after a lengthy stay in hospital she ended her days in a care home.
On that basis I'd recommend a wrist worn one.
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R o R
I’ve heard similar stories, second hand, that’s why I posted here.
Elderly folks take off their neck pendant..bath , shower, washing, and either lose it or forget to put it back on.
My mum fell out of bed a few years ago…sleeping on top on hot summers evening. Lay trapped for several hours between bed & wardrobe until she somehow reached her cordless and dialled 999. Bedrails now, just in case. And an outdoor key safe.
No fun is it ?
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MiL has the watch type, often goes off without her falling - she then gets the phone call asking if she's ok which she has difficulty answering in time.
Seems to go off when she's in bed for some reason - it then starts vibrating.
No idea if she pays for it/the service.
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She will do. They ain’t cheap.
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I believe most of them use a landline to alert a control centre. Isn't there some sort of problem associated with landlines being discontinued and using internet if the power goes off?
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No, more more than before, you didnt walk around with an analogue wire attached to you.
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The specific Life Line equipment could be remotely activated by he call centre as both a microphone and a load speaker so that the operator could listen to an potentially reassure the person activating the alarm.
Telephone lines carry current from the exchange so they work during local powercuts.
As we have recently discovered during a period of several powercuts, due to lack of vegetation cutting which interfered with the overhead cables, the local mast ceased to work and reception provided by other masts was poor.
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I thought that now calls were being done by VOIP that there was no service when the power was off. I'm sure that must be true with Virgin as my phone is plugged into my router.
However when they told me it was happening they asked if there were any special needs in the house as presumably there is a workaround.
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My 91 year old mum had a wrist alarm for a year or so before she went into care. It was very good with a responsive call centre via loudspeaker phone. She hadn’t been diagnosed but we strongly suspected dementia.
She often left the sender on the side and this once nearly had very serious consequences when she was trapped in the bath. We don’t know how long she was in there but a neighbour heard her calling at 1.00 am. So it had been many hours. As he couldn’t remember my brother’s number he called the Fire Brigade. They couldn’t break into the outside key safe so forced the front door. Mum spent a week in hospital.
The lesson is to leave a contact number on any key box and ensure neighbours have it.
After that we searched in vain for a system that detected lack of movement or non use of her electric kettle. She didn’t have Broadband but we were uncomfortable at setting up active video cameras. However by then the need for round the clock care arose and she moved into care.
The sad reality is that, until in care, there is only so much you can do to keep tabs on an elderly person. We reasoned that she was happier in her home even with a degree of risk, for as long as possible.
Good luck with resolving things to suit your mum.
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>> I thought that now calls were being done by VOIP that there was no service
>> when the power was off. I'm sure that must be true with Virgin as my
>> phone is plugged into my router.
>>
>> However when they told me it was happening they asked if there were any special
>> needs in the house as presumably there is a workaround.
Yes. that's it. IIRC they can fit a back up battery power supply to the router.
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>> I believe most of them use a landline to alert a control centre.
The one I bought from Amazon doesn't use a call centre, so no fees to pay.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00WIFPMBW
You can program up to 3 phone numbers into it, and it will try each one in turn. It however is only capable of recording a 6 second outgoing message to the number(s) being called.
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>> MiL & a next door neighbour had alarms.
>>
>> Both fell quite often - the alarms were never on them - on a table
>> / in a bedroom / beside the TV remote.
Same scenario with my elderly mother. Even 3 or 4 stays in hospital in the last couple of years, the last time being 8 weeks still hasn't convinced her to wear her pendant.
I even bought an Alexa Dot for her so she could shout for help if she fell (if still conscious obviously). All she has to do is say "Alexa Help" or "Alexa call David"
I've tried until I'm blue in the face to show her how to use it. She just stares at it, waiting for it to do something. I have said you have to talk to it, just like you would a pet for it to respond. She stares at it again and says "nope, it's still not doing anything, why have you wasted your money on such a useless thing"
Bangs head!!! That's me this time for a change and not her.
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Seems like a permanently worn wrist band type alarm is the way forward…unless it needs charging on a regular basis. Then I’d have to remember to charge it.
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i went through all of this 3 years ago when my father was entering his terminal years. Some of the tools that are available now would have made life a a lot easier. At the 'end' we had 2 Tapo cameras installed which managed to cover the lounge, doorways to hall, bedroom, and entrance to the bathroom. He still manged his final fall in the 2m section that we had not got covered!
In some ways it may have been better for all concerned if we had not responded to apparent lack of presence and movement, allowed him to drift into unconsciousness and die in his flat. His final 3 weeks of ambulance, urgent admission, treatment, and moved to a nursing home where he was not self aware of his state or location were not good for anyone involved. He had made the 100 being fully aware, still living alone and cooking/shopping until we initiated a carer package.
If you combine Tapo cameras with Alexa, you can now implement a 'no movement' trigger alarm which would have been the most useful feature. Steerable cameras to help solve the TV confusion issues, although there are now better remote infrared control options - I have one sitting on the shelf - never got round to installing because the terminal decline over 3 months whilst I was abroad was just too fast.
So plan and act ahead, you may otherwise be too late.
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Personal alarms for elderly - Bobby
