Two things to keep in mind.

1. If someone spends the time and money to call you on the phone to offer you something free, it’s not free.

2. Never give any personal or financial information to someone who calls you on the telephone. If you call them, fine. But if someone calls you, the chances are way too high that they are a scammer.

Here’s what I wrote back:

Hi, Kay–

Great timing! You’re email arrived at just the right moment to get a quick response. Bay Alarm is a great company and I highly recommend them, as long as your situation is right. Bay uses a “base station speakerphone” system so you have to be within voice range of the base station in order to have a conversation with the monitoring center. Where this gets tricky is if your house is big, or you often have loud music playing, or you spend a lot of time in the yard, or anything else that would make it hard to communicate.

Note that if they _can’t_ hear you they’ll still send help, so it’s better than not getting a system at all.

One of the situations where this can make a big difference is if you fall and need help getting up, but you aren’t hurt and you don’t need an ambulance. If you can communicate this to the monitoring center, they’ll call a neighbor or someone else on your contact list. But if you can’t, they’ll assume the worst and send the emergency responders.

So, if your days are spent close enough to the base station that you can communicate easily, Bay is a great option because they are the most affordable I know of and they’re run by good people. (I learned yesterday that their prices are going up by $2 per month on Friday Feb 16, 2013, and remember that you can save $1 per month with the coupon code “Joe”.)

If what I’ve written makes you think Bay isn’t right for you, take a look at the Medipendant. It’s a system where you can actually talk and listen right through the emergency pendant, so you can be up to 600′ from the base station. I just put up a video today explaining the whole issue: http://elderlymedicalalertsystems.com/all-about-the-medipendant. (They also offer a coupon code for my readers: in this case you save $2 per month if you mention you found it on “elderly medical”.)

My reply:

Hi, Mary Jane–

Based on what you’ve written, I think that a LogicMark Freedom Alert would be just about perfect.

(It’s rarely so clear-cut. Usually I’m writing long emails saying, well, you could try this one or that one or this third one…)

If I’m reading you accurately, there’s almost always someone in the house upstairs, and you want to be able to reach them easily if you have a problem and aren’t carrying your cell phone. You also spend time outside.

The Freedom Alert is one of the talk-through-the-pendant systems, so it’s like carrying around a tiny cordless phone. You can program it to call your kids upstairs, then their cell phones, then 911, just in case no one is around.

I think it will give you a lot of peace of mind.

Here’s a page with more details: http://elderlymedicalalertsystems.com/medical-alert-reviews/logicmark-freedom-alert-review

Take a look and see if it’s right for you.

Happy New Year!

Joe

PS. Write back if I haven’t answered all your questions.

I’m an accident prone, recent widow who has lost her self confidence in my ability to “know, spacious ally, where my body is” when my eyes are closed. I live alone, far from my family and close friends. Loss of confidence is a biggie. Plus, I enjoy working in my yard, and worry about receiving aid in the event of an accident with my power tools.

I’ve crossed off of my list any service that requires two way conversation via base unit or cell phone. Chances are, misfortune will happen when neither device is at hand.

My reply:

Hi, Robin–

Thanks for reaching out! It sounds like you’re going through a tough adjustment. I think your instinct to get a medical alert is a good one.

You are so right to cross off the “base station speakerphone” models and the ones that link to your cell phone.

There are two basic options I think would be best for you.

The Medipendant (http://getmedipendant.com) will give you the coverage you need in your garden and around the house. The pendant is a self contained cordless phone so you can have a two-way conversation with the monitoring center without shouting. I think it’s about $27 a month paid yearly, and you can cancel anytime and get the rest of your money back.

The GreatCall 5Star Responder is a standalone cell-phone based unit with GPS that dials a monitoring center or 911 depending on how long you hold down the button. Works anywhere you get a good cell signal. And believe it or not, it’s cheaper (around $15 a month).

The 5Star is a good unit. my only real concern is that because the battery needs charging it might be on the charger when you need it. The battery in the Medipendant lasts a year.

Costco just started selling a new GPS cell-based unit (ecare+voice) and I took a look at it before starting this reply. It’s very similar to the 5Star but much more expensive and has a 1 year contract.

Here’s a recent question/answer that goes into more detail about the 5Star product. http://elderlymedicalalertsystems.com/questions-from-real-people/cellular-based-pers-medical-alerts

Please write back if you have more questions.

I’m 65 yrs of age, I live alone and my nearest relative, my daughter, lives about 20 minutes away from me. I got a little dizzy about 8 months ago, and I drove myself to the emergency room. The doctor read me the riot act, and told me never to do that again. I live in a not so decent area of Prince Georges County Maryland, and I really don’t trust my neighbors. That sounds horrible but its the truth. I need to have access to someone who will respond quickly when needed. I use my cell phone at home. I have no land line service and I am looking for a company that caters to cell phone users.

My response:

Hi, Mary–

Thanks for your questions. (And thank you for being specific — I’ve had a few people write me just a couple of words, and it really doesn’t give me enough to go on!)

The cellular based products are evolving rapidly. Just last week I spent an hour on the phone with a startup company that wants to design a really top-notch cellular medical alert. They asked all the right questions about what people really need, and I’m confident when it comes out it’s going to be great, but they are still a LONG way from having a product for sale.

That said, there are several companies that offer cellular versions of the “classic” medical alert systems. These are the ones with the base station speakerphone that only work well if you’re inside your home and it’s not noisy.

For example, https://www.alertresponse.com/products/cellular-pers/ and http://www.neers.com/products_cell_pers.php. But don’t click yet! One of them doesn’t say what the cost is, and the other quotes $47 a month, which seems really high.

For a much more affordable solution, take a look at the 5Star Responder from GreatCall. While I haven’t ever actually held one of these in my hands, I’ve talked to the company and read their materials closely. For about $15 a month you get a simple device that can get help for you anywhere you have a cell signal. It works two ways. First, if you press the button you get connected to the response center. They can call your daughter if that’s all you need, or call the ambulance for you if it’s an emergency. The unit has GPS so the response center knows where you are. The second way you can use it is to hold down the button for 5 seconds, which makes the unit call 911 directly. This can save time in a true life-threatening emergency.

On their website they encourage people to use the system not just for emergencies, but also if you’re alone in a dark parking garage and just need the comfort of having someone on the other end of the phone, etc.

Here’s the link to more information on my website: http://elderlymedicalalertsystems.com/the-5star-responder-personal-gps-device

(Full disclosure: If you click a link or ad on that page and purchase the device online, Great Call will give me a small commission. That’s what ends up paying for my time to maintain the website and respond to questions. If you complete the transaction by phone or go straight to greatcall.com, there’s no commission. Either way, your cost is exactly the same. I appreciate when people use my affiliate link, but it’s not required!)

Since your neighbors aren’t that trustworthy, please consider getting a lockbox for your house key and giving the code number to your daughter and to whatever service you end up choosing. That way emergency responders can get into the house without damaging anything if you’re unable to answer the door. They’re available on Amazon for around $20.

I hope this all helps. Let me know if you have more questions! And happy holidays to you and your family.

Joe

Looking for a medical alert for a 77 year old had total knee replacement 3 months ago and suffered a fall 6 weeks ago lives alone and as much as she would like to believe there are friends she can count on in any situation there aren’t I live 1200 miles away and her daughter lives 600 miles away we are trying to find the best suitable device for her. it needs to be bidirectioinal and we would like to know if there is a system that can go with her and be used when she visits us, we have tried sifting through all the different systems but feel more confused when we finish.

My response:

Hi, Jacqui–

I’m so glad you wrote. I think you’ve got several choices here.

First off, a monitored alert is probably what you want. That way the monitoring company can find out what’s going on with each incident and send the right kind of help. Sometimes that might be a neighbor, sometimes an ambulance. I think your mother-in-law might be right that she’s got friends and neighbors who will help, but I suspect it’s only in a pinch and they don’t want to be “responsible” for her. A monitoring company would be able to call the neighbor with a specific request and the neighbor wouldn’t have to feel like they were in charge of your mother in law’s safety.

Or they could call YOU and you could figure out who to call locally.

Second, you can move any of these units from place to place. You just need to call the company to tell them where the person is, so they don’t send an ambulance to an empty house. The unit dials the same phone number no matter where you are.

As you know if you’ve looked around the website, I’m a big fan of the medipendant (http://getmedipendant.com) because you can talk right thought the pendant instead of having to shout to a speakerphone.

If your mother in law’s house is small (or it’s an apartment) then any of the “standard” medical alerts (lifestation, connect america, lifealert, bay alarm, etc, etc.) will work fine. Of these I like bay alarm best because of their really good pricing. I recently made a page comparing them to LifeStation (whoops: it’s not published yet. I guess I haven’t finalized it). It’s often hard to settle on which one is better because there are tradeoffs: LifeStation will refund unused months if you’ve paid in advance, and their customer service is 24/7, but over the lifetime of the service you’ll have paid several hundred dollars more for these advantages. Search for Bay Alarm on the website if you want to find the coupon code that saves you a little extra each month.

Anyway, see if the Medipendant meets your needs. They’re very helpful on the phone (1-888-216-0039) and I’ve heard only good things from other website visitors who’ve gone with them. They’re the same price as most of the “standard” services but the technology is better (and they also refund unused months if you’ve purchased a quarter or a year in advance).

Let me know how it works out, and if you have more questions.

He wrote: We want a pendant that senses a fall and is capable of being the communication device! He does have some falls and is quite active outside the house so also a good range from the base!

Scott had previously looked at Phillips LifeLine and Life Alert, but neither were meeting his needs.

My response:

Hi, Scott–

You’re right that LifeLine isn’t going to be great in your dad’s situation. The fall detection is there, but the outdated base station speakerphone won’t really help if he falls when he’s outside. Okay, it’ll help if he needs an ambulance, because that’s what they’ll send, but not if he just needs the neighbor to come give him a hand up.

LifeAlert isn’t any better, and they don’t have fall detection.

I just did a quick search to see if anyone’s come out with a mobile/GPS unit that does fall detection, and it doesn’t look like anyone’s got a solid offering, though new products do seem to be coming on the market that are getting closer.

For now the two best options I can think of are the Medipendant (http://elderlymedicalalertsystems.com/all-about-the-medipendant) and the GreatCall 5Star Responder (http://elderlymedicalalertsystems.com/the-5star-responder-personal-gps-device).

Neither have fall detection. I know I’m making assumptions about your dad’s situation, but I wonder if it’s fairly unlikely that he’ll fall and not be able to press the button (ie., be knocked unconscious). And I have heard reports of false alarms with the Phillips fall detection technology.

The medipendant has the talk-through-pendant and has plenty of range to work out in the yard. The 5Star is actually cheaper and works anywhere you have a cell signal, but it requires recharging regularly.

Take a look at those two items and see if one of them fits. Unfortunately there’s nothing that is perfect for your situation.

Hope that helps and let me know if you have more questions.

Typical life alert pendant

The other day I was watching TV late at night and saw several ads for Life Alert.

Have you seen them? Did you notice they repeat the phone number 5 separate times, taking up almost half of the ad time?

Seeing the ads reminded me that I get a lot of questions on this site about Life Alert products from people who visit this website. The biggest question is this: is Life Alert really better than all the other brands?

Now, I’m not exactly sure why I get this question so much. I don’t get it regarding other brands like Bay Alarm Medical or LifeFone or the Phillips products.

I guess Life Alert’s materials — or their phone reps — must be making that claim. Or perhaps it’s just that they saturate the late-night airwaves and so people believe they’re good simply because the name is familiar.

So is Life Alert better?

As far as I can tell, LifeAlert is actually completely average.

They use old-school equipment that’s based on technology that was state of the art in the 1980s. True, they have their own monitoring center, but so do many other companies (the alternative is to contract out the monitoring of phone calls, which has both pros and cons).

What’s not average about them is their prices, which are higher than most, and the fact that they lock you into a 3-year contract (see an extensive discussion about this at the link). Most other medical alert companies don’t do this.

I’ve personally called Life Alert as a customer to see how their reps handled the call. While I wouldn’t characterize the rep as pushy or aggressive, he did require my phone number at the beginning of the call, and he was very persistent about calling me back. I didn’t enjoy the experience.

Your options:

1. You can buy a Life Alert. Whatever my problems with their marketing, they do sell a reliable system and they are likely to be at least as good as any other company at answering your emergency call.
2. If you’re looking for a medical alert that works the same way Life Alert does, but at a much better price, take a look at my review for Bay Alarm Medical. They use pretty much the same equipment and provide the same level of protection, but they charge a lot less (your exact savings depend on the plan you choose, and whether or not you use the Bay Alarm coupon code to save even more)
3. For a system that provides a higher level of protection by using a talk-through pendant, take a look at the Medipendant. This system is great if you have a larger house or you spend time outside, because you can still have a two-way voice conversation with the responders even if you’re far from the base station.

What’s your opinion?

I’ve shared mine. Do you have something you want to share? People tend to be pretty polarized about LifeAlert, so please try to keep things civil!

By the way, just for fun I’ve collected a few old life alert TV commercials.

I think some of the systems on the market are pretty good, but no one’s got the perfect answer.

Here are a few things that are very important to me. I’d love to hear what’s important to you in the comments.

1. Get the right help fast.

It almost goes without saying that we want a medical alert system so we can get help fast, but we also want the right help. We don’t want an ambulance if the house is on fire. We don’t want the fire department if we’re simply stuck on the floor after slipping out of our chair. But we sure do want the ambulance and the paramedics in a big hurry if we’ve just had a stroke, heart attack, or a bad fall.

2. No need to think: it just works

We all know our thinking gets cloudy in emergencies. That’s why the perfect system doesn’t require you to think a lot before you activate it or while you’re using it.

–If you have to remember which pendant/button you need to carry depending on where you are
–If you have to wonder if you’re bothering someone with your concern
–If you have to worry that the response will be out of proportion to the problem

Then the solution isn’t working.

3. It’s attractive and easy to carry.

I want a system that looks good. Or at least on that doesn’t look dorky. I want it to be small and unobtrusive. Easy to carry. Because that way I have it on me all the time. I don’t want to broadcast the fact that I might need help. But I could need help any minute.

What do you think?

What is most important to you? Let us know and maybe one of the medical alert companies will pay attention!

Does it dial 911? Or a monitoring center? See if you can figure it out.

Rescue Alert of California, a medical alarm company that sells what I call the “standard base station speakerphone” medical alert, has announced that it now has an add-on device that works outside the home, anywhere you can get a cell signal.

But in the process, they’ve completely confused me.

This device, the RA911, uses the same technology as a mobile phone and a single press of the button activates the alarm and connects the user with the Rescue Alert monitoring center. It has a built in speaker and microphone.

The press release about the product makes no mention of GPS capabilities. Neither does the detail page on website (http://rescuealertofca.com/ra-911), but that page does say, “However, the advantage with the mobile device is that once the senior presses the panic button, the response and monitoring center will be able to track the exact location of the subscriber. This is important especially in cases in which the senior figures in an accident and is unconscious or unable to speak.”

It’s not clear to me whether this device actually as location capability, or how it would work (through the cell system, perhaps?).

It’s also not clear to me why it’s called the “RA-911″ when it doesn’t call 911.

In fact, it soon gets more confusing. The press release mentioned above is from the “Rescue Alert of California” company. It describes the device as connecting you to the monitoring center.

However, the “Rescue Alert” website describes the product this way:

“With the RA 911 emergency cell phone, you will receive convenient, quick, and reliable access to 911 services whenever and wherever you need them. The small cell device is only 3.5 x 2 x 1 inch, which makes it convenient to take it with you on-the-go, and the two-way voice RA 911 allows you to communicate with 911 services in an emergency with just a push of a button.”

Clear yet?

These are the kinds of confusing bits of information that make it harder for me to trust that a system has really been carefully thought through and is being marketed to people with the highest standards for clear communication.

If you’re looking for much clearer information on what alert system is right for you, take a look at this page.