Medical Alert Alarm System

Get a Medical Alert Alarm System for When Your Elderly Family Members Can't Reach a Telephone

The need for a medical alert alarm system for the disabled and elderly is clear.

These statistics are for the United States, but I'm sure that they apply pretty generally across the board for developed countries. And of course the elderly in developing countries are at risk as well.

Over 425,000 people die annually from some form of heart disease. That's one of every six deaths. Three-quarters of all heart disease deaths are from sudden cardiac arrest -- what we normally call heart attacks.

There're over a million heart attacks in a year, and about 34% of people who suffer one will die from it.

We used to think only men had heart attacks, but women now have nearly half of all heart attacks but, unfortunately, they often wait longer than men to respond to the symptoms.

A Medical Alert Alarm System is a Good Idea for All Elderly People

Brain damage can begin as soon as four to six minutes after the heart stops pumping blood. Your odds of surviving cardiac arrest go down 7-10% for every minute you don't receiver defibrillation.

Around 140,000 people die from a stroke every year. That makes it the third leading cause of death (behind heart disease and cancer). That's one out of every seventeen deaths.

It's the leading cause of long term disability. After all, about 795,000 people suffer strokes in a year, so most are not fatal. One happens about every forty seconds, on average. About 600,000 are first strokes.

Many of the 5.7 stroke survivors have permanent disabilities related to their stroke.

Three-quarters of strokes occur in men and women over the age of 65. Your risk of having a stroke doubles with each decade over the age of 55.

Overall, about 55,000 more women than men have strokes every year. However, men are more likely to have them at a younger age than women.

Seniors and the Disabled Living Alone Need a Medical Alert Alarm System to Monitor Them

Smokers are twice as likely as nonsmokers to have ischemic (the most common type) strokes.

The highest risk factor for stroke is high blood pressure. But having heart disease and diabetis, or having previously had a stroke or TIA, put you at risk. You must also be concerned if you're obese, smoke, have sickle cell anemia, drink a lot, use certain illegal drugs, don't exercise regularly, have elevated blood cholesterol or lipids.

Even if you stay ahead of those conditions, advancing age itself is a risk factor you can't control.

In all cases, getting to a hospital as soon as possible is critical. About 50% of all heart attack deaths occur in the first hour if the victim is outside the hospital. Some newer treatments for heart attack are clot buster drugs that work best if administered soon after the beginning of the attack.

And blood platelets are stickier in the early morning hours, making them a common time to have a heart attack.

That means that heart attacks and strokes often attack at times when your elderly family members are not right by a telephone, so they can't dial 911. Same with falls. Those can happen any place in their home or outside.

A good medical alert alarm system can give you extraordinary peace of mind.

Next: Medical Alert Elderly -- medical alarm systems for the elderly.