As the average lifespan on men and women continue to increase, so does the need for medical help for the elderly. Many people are faced with parents who wish to maintain their independence by living at home. However, some are feeble and their children fear for their safety. What would happen if they fell and weren’t near the phone to call for medical help?
Fortunately, there are medical alarms to help call emergency personnel. These alarms are worn as a pendant, watch, or necklace and if the person falls, rather than struggle to the phone, they just need to push a button. The button alerts the monitoring companies central station, who then notifies and emergency contact number (such as the person’s child) or medical help (such as the paramedics). There is usually a microphone/speaker unit with which the employee at the central station can speak to the user to see what type of emergency is occurring. Some alerts even have different buttons you can push to notify a relative or call for an ambulance yourself. If medical help arrives and the person who called cannot get up to let them in, some medical alarm companies can open the door for the medical personnel. The alarms can be connected through analog or digital ISDN connections. This means that if there is a power outage, the devices still can operate on batteries.
This type of alert system was invented in the early 70s by Wilhelm Hormann to help the sick, elderly, and disabled who lived alone. Now, there are also other types of accessories to help, such as fall sensors (that can tell when someone has fallen in case the fall knocks them unconscious), smoke detectors (to alert emergency personnel is case of a fire), and motion detectors. Some alarms are referred to as passive alarms because the person at home presses a button several times a day to let the person at the central station know that they are okay.