Safety Button / Alarm Button

[NetballMagic]

Morning all,

My dad is my Mums carer and they both live with me and my own family. So most of the time someone from my family is around.

My concern is, my Dads health is dubious at the moment and say he had a fall, heart attack or something at home when it was just them two there, my Mum wouldn’t be able to reach out to anyone as she doesn’t have the capacity to use a phone anymore.

Aside from the red call button that can be worn around the neck does anyone have any ideas or experience/suggestions to safeguard my Mum in the worse case scenario.

Thanks in advance xx

[Millidog]

Not sure if it helps but careline 365 have the falls alarm which can be pendant or watch and you can get for both mum and dad on the one system. Its very sensitive qnd can be operated by each individual pressing their button or is alerted by sudden movement, fall, collapse etc Their control centre will try and make contact with them. If no contact you can arrange that it will either contacontaccontaccontact you first or they can contact emergency services qs a priority and then contact you. There are also smart watches that can be set to contact you or others if you searc h Guardian and Apple do one but so far i hqvent found one that hasa contact centre support system

[NetballMagic in reply to Millidog]

this is really useful information. Thank you, I’ll do some research on what you’ve suggested.

[T-val in reply to NetballMagic]

My mum still has her falls pendant (now a wrist watch type) despite living with us. It has been invaluable if she has got up and fallen in the night but she knows that if there is an emergency that she can just press the button and it will contact them. They initially speak through a speaker box to check if everything is ok, then would try to call myself but otherwise send someone round to check she is ok. I am guessing you have a keysafe box, that number is listed with them so they can access the house. It's an invaluable service and piece of mind for us.

[bichonbear1]

Hi, my parents live alone. My dad is my mums carer. I have always been concerned if something happened to my dad (he has diabetes/high blood pressure/family heart attack history) my mum could not call for help. We investigated all types of alarms but could not find one suitable that my mum could not accidentally set off due to her tendency to fiddle. We had to resign ourselves to the fact that an alarm just wasn’t possible. The moment has passed now because even if there was such an alarm my mums cognition could not support use of one. My parents are 10 mins down the road, I have to rely on the thought that my dad will need to get to a phone in a moment of need. I pray we don’t have to contend this possibility as well as mums ill health. We have carers 3 times a day so I also hope if anything happened they would be there or catch anything in time. I try not to think about this possibility too much.

[NetballMagic in reply to bichonbear1]

Sadly this was my other half’s view too. It’s difficult to protect them both, but I suppose there is only so much we can do. X

[Daffodil41]

hi. If your mum has capacity to speak ok you could consider an Alexa that’s connected to a phone or the voice controls on a phone itself. My mum carries her iPhone on a lanyard around her neck (she refused a pendant alarm) and it’s voice enabled to easily call people. You can set Alexa or similar devices up the same way. I’ve had to write down the phrase for mum to say but she calls me on it most days anyway for a chat so she uses it often to keep up the practice in case she needed it. Good luck x

[NetballMagic in reply to Daffodil41]

Sadly we’re past that point as Mums speech is very disjointed now x

[Scottoppy]

Talk to your Local Authority Social Worker. Most authorities now have what is referred to as a Lifeline service. For a small charge per month your mother could be equipped with a call device that can call a support centre who can alert you and /or the emergency services. In my case my wife's call pendant just calls my mobile number and I respond. We may change it so that it calls a support centre if I ever become infirm too! Keep strong, best wishes.

[Richard33]

Hi,

I just bought a Vtech 1080p video baby monitor from Argos. It works via internet / wifi. So your Dad can have the parent monitor to watch your Mum in the house with him if he is not in the same room. At the same time you can check in via your smart phone using the Vtech app from anywhere in the world. All very clever.

Richard 🙂

[AJK2001]

As well as alarm buttons you can get pressure sensors, I can't remember quite how they work now but it was something along the lines of if Mum got off her chair or out of bed and wasn't back within a certain length of time, an alarm situation would be triggered. We didn't go this route but it was something the OT suggested.

I think Age UK have a similar system.