Medical Alert Companies

Medical Alert Companies Vary in Their Quality of Features and Services

Many medical alert companies produce emergency medical alert devices that call for help, for elderly and disabled people -- especially who are living on their own.

My Favorite of All Medical Alert Companies

Philips Lifeline is my favorite, because that is the medical alert company my mother used until she passed away -- and they seemed to do a good job, though thankfully I was always available to call 911 when she needed that help. And it's also my favorite because they now offer a service my mother didn't have -- an autoalarm.

That is not a simply pushbutton that you wear around your neck or wrist. It's a sophisticated motion monitoring advice that broadcasts your loved one's movement and height to a small computer. As you go about your normal daily activities, you're "teaching" the monitor about what kind of movements are normal for you.

That could include you walking from room to room, sitting down on your toilet seat, bending down to pick up something you dropped, sitting in front of your television or sleeping on a couch or bed.

So very soon, the device knows at what height you normally carry it - and how fast you move. If you suddenly move a lot faster than normal -- and especially if that movement is straight down and then you stop moving at all -- it will give you thirty seconds to recover from the apparent fall and get yourself up.

If you do not, it will automatically activate the base unit which then signals the call center, so within seconds a service representative is on the line, calling out through the base unit's speaker, asking if you're all right.

If you say you need help or you don't respond at all, they then call your local 911 service as was arranged when you signed up. They give the 911 EMTs the combination to the key lockbox in front of your house which contains the key to your house, so the EMTs don't have to break your door down.

Out of All Medical Alert Companies, Only One Has AutoAlarm Device

According to Philips, they are so far the only medical alert company offering this service. (Of course, that could have changed by the time you read this.)

I don't have the statistics, but obviously some elderly people need help from a fall or stroke but don't get it immediately because they're unable to push the medical alert button despite being covered by one of these medical alarm services.

When you check out other medical alarm companies, make sure they have their own monitoring call center. Make sure it's certified by the Underwriters Laboratory (UL) and the Central Station Alarm Association (CSAA) -- Five Diamond is best -- and that's it's operated by the alarm company, not outsourced. You want the representative to understand your family member and for your family member to understand them, without trying to decipher an accent.

And you want to make sure the initial call does go to a monitor call center at all. Some medical alarm systems bypass that step. They have the call go to a family member, neighbor or to 911.

But that family member or neighbor may be at work, on vacation, sound asleep or otherwise unavailable. 911 will get aggravated by false alarms - and they will have to break down your front door.

When you choose between medical alert companies, make sure you decide on service and features, not price.

Next: Medical Alert -- sound the alarm if you're hurt.