The Medical Alarm "Mother Test" Keeps Seniors Safe

Medical alarm monitoring centers are open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. And to answer Ann's question from Lincoln, Nebraska: No, we are never closed for holidays or any other reason. Also, if you just want to call us in the business office with a question or concern, Senior Safety medical alarms business office is available Monday through Saturday during business hours. And even on Sunday or during off hours, if you leave us a message, we’ll call you back as soon as possible! [Read More...]

According to recent surveys, there are upwards of several million medical alert systems being used all across the country by seniors who appreciate the benefits of having a personal medical alarm in their own home. There are two pieces of equipment that come standard with personal medical alarm systems.

First, you’ll have a personal panic button that you can carry with your throughout the home. This will be in the form of a small pendant or wristband. It has a button that you push in the case of any emergency. The second piece of equipment is a small monitoring device that is plugged into an outlet and into your home phone line. Think of this as a kind of “answering machine.”

When you push the panic button, the monitoring device makes a call to the response center. A well trained operation can then actually speak to you through the monitoring device wherever you might be in your home. This is crucial if you’ve taken a fall and can’t get to the phone. Even if you can’t respond, once that panic button has been pushed, the operator knows to immediately send help your way.

The monitoring response is a fee based service which you can pay each month or in annual increments. Once installed, you’ll become so accustomed to your personal medical alarm that you won’t even know it’s there until you need it! [Read More...]

How to compare medical alarm companies is a question that is frequently asked. I'd say it is near impossible to do by just reading the Internet.

Medical alarm companies have sprung up all over the country, some provide wonderful caring medical alarm service, others are just after your money. Your first alert that it is not a good company is a slick salesman or woman telling you that another company monitors their clients in India. I know of no monitoring being done for a medical alarm company overseas.

I helped pioneer the medical alarm industry back in 1980, and yet, I read on the Internet more and more people claiming they started the industry back in the 70's. I know of only one organization that started in the 1970's, and that would be Lifeline. Lifeline at that time was using hospital emergency rooms to provide their monitoring services locally. I do believe they also had a center in the Boston area.

Lifeline, now known as Phillips Lifeline is the oldest and largest medical alarm service in the country. Many times they have offered to buy me out, me, I'm not selling. They have somewhere north of 700,000 clients. I imagine at times it is quite difficult for them to provide the service they would like.

The company you see often on TV that Dr. Koop is pushing is another very large company, they started in 1986 and use very powerful sales techniques to encourage many clients to subscribe. They are one of the best at bringing on new clients with their ads. One of the difficulties for this company is that TV advertising and salesman are expensive so they must pass this cost on to their clients. That's just how business works.

This leads me to the very frequent question I am asked about our medical alarm service, "Why are you so inexpensive?" We're not, we are properly priced in the market place to provide excellent service. We are considered to be the least expensive of all the major alarm companies. Why? I'm more concerned about keeping our client base and their families happy and providing the best medical alarm service possible. I, and my employees, make a great living doing just that, and that's good enough for us.

Our clients are shocked at the level of service we provide. It is far from unusual for our customer service people to spend an hour at a time on the phone with someone who needs the help. We are ofter praised for our good service. It starts from the top, I only hire caring people, and we really do care.

I often laugh when people call here asking if we hire ethnic people, that's one of the questions the salespeople from some companies push seniors to ask of their competitors...it's a subtle inference that their company would not hire ethnic people. Let that be your first alert to be suspect of those organizations. And by the way, do you have something against ethnic people...isn't that a might disgusting? What do they mean by that?

Use your common sense, if a person talks about the other companies poorly, they are usually talking about themselves. Give these type organizations a wide berth.

If a medical alarm service wants to lock you into a contract for any period of time, be careful, there is no reason to sign a contract that cannot be canceled. There is no reason to pay an installation fee, or to pay for the equipment used. This industry has evolved, the good companies out there would never do that.

The larger the company the more they must pass their expenses over to the client. Large national companies must operate this way.

Just be careful. Be comfortable with the people you are talking to, if something does not past the smell test it should not pass at all.

Sorry for rambling, but sometimes I just like to get on my high horse and shout out what's real and what is not.

I don't care which company you choose that fits your needs, there are many good medical alarm services out there.

We're one of them!

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In many ways medical alert devices can be considered as a type of cell phone for emergencies. When activated the medical alarm triggers a response from a dedicated call center. On a cell phone, you need to dial 9-1-1 to get assistance. The difference here is obvious: one push of a button versus dialing several numbers and hitting send.

Then there is the issue of signal strength. If you have ever used a cell phone then it’s a pretty safe bet that you had a call drop out on you. That’s the last thing you want to happen in an emergency situation. Medical alert systems are plugged directly into your home phone landline so there is no chance of a weak signal or dropped call.

Also keep in mind that cell phones need to be charged. A personal medical alarm doesn’t. It is plugged right into the wall and is always on. A medical alert button is also a panic button. They can be used in any kind of emergency not just if you take a fall or feel chest pains. On the other end of the line of a personal emergency response system are operators who will know right away who is calling them. You won’t have to worry about wasting time giving out your phone number or address. The only advantage a cell phone has is with personal calls. You can’t call up your neighbor on a medical alert device! Add it all up and you’ll see that medical alert systems beat out the cell phone in case of a home emergency. [Read More...]

When you become a medical alarm customer, the monitoring you get is 24 hours a day - 365 days a years. That goes for any alarm for seniors that you sign up for… A big distinction in this industry is whether a company offers redundant monitoring with your service. What would happen if there were a serious natural disaster at the location of the monitoring center? A big tornado, large scale earthquake or a hurricane can potentially take down your monitoring center leaving you without service. So it's best if your medical alarm company has a back up center. This way you are covered 24/7 - 365 days a year - no matter what! With the crazy weather patterns that we've been seeing lately, it's good to make sure your alarm for seniors company has you properly covered.

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