Daily phone or physical contact for elderly in the Prince Frederick area. Is there an agency or group (fire department, sheriff's department, local police, utility company or volunteer group) that calls elderly individuals on a daily basis to make sure they are basically alright and make physical contact if the person fails to answer after a prescribed number of call attempts?
A once daily call would be helpful, but with fragile elders, something could happen 5 minutes after a call.
You could contact the local emergency responders and ask them specifically if they provide this service, and if not, whether they're aware of any agency that does. I seriously doubt any utility company would though - it's just within their scope of operation.
Do you have a medic alert pendant? If not, I'd consider getting one. If the person doesn't answer a phone call, the monitoring company will call parties on the emergency call list - family if listed first, then EMTs.
I don't know if they will make regular check-in calls, but it should be the first question you ask if you explore this option. I've used it for this purpose a few times. At one time, the phone volume switch had accidentally been turned down when picking up the phone for an earlier call. The Medic Alert system "calls" directly through the pendant and can reach someone if the phone is turned down or off.
If you do decide to get a Medic Alert, be sure to get a lockbox so that a house key can be placed in it so emergency responders can get in.
The members of the AgingCare caregivers forum asked: Is there an agency or group that calls elderly individuals on a daily basis to make sure they are basically alright?
A caregiver for my wife, I participate on the forum and often Google to help members like myself.
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Can you call another number if no answer
experience in just having hip surgery. I have great
neighbors that check on me daily, however one stopped
by and everything was good and within 30 minutes I went
to the bathroom and fell. So you really need more than one
contact a day for safety.
I called her every day around supper time, short touch base calls. Often she would have gone to bed. One night I called, no answer, probably in bathroom, waited a few minutes and repeated call. No answer, assumed she had go to bed for night.
Next morning I called again. No answer. I called 911 and requested a wellness check. They responded along with housing security. Found her on floor in bad shape. Off to ER. Died two day later.
You may find information through your Aging and Disiabilty Resource Center(ADRC) if your state has one.
They called, I could even hear him talking. So w/i a few minutes I knew he was okay. That's when we learned the phone volume ringer had accidentally been moved when the phone was picked up eariler.
Gadola, that's a wonderful idea. Was it initiated by the PD or by the citizens?
I also like the camera suggestion, but there would need to be cameras in every room, covering every corner. Falls can occur anywhere.
Some good suggestions are being offered; I'm saving these for myself as well.
I've been thinking about your post since reading it and think this is a great idea. I'd like to raise it with the PD in my father's community, and perhaps mine.
It's a smooth process in larger metro areas. In rural areas, there is more red tape to get a senior registered. Sometimes you have to start with the county's agency on aging and work your way through to the proper post office. But it's worth a try.
My girlfriend lived in So. Calif. and her mother in Montana had one. They set it up so the operator would call 911 then call Alice so she knew something was going on up there.
My SIL had one when she lived on a large piece of property and my brother worked out of town and was just home on weekends. She was only in her 50's but she said if she fell, no one would be able to hear her. She was healthy but had lots of stairs in her house.
If I ever live alone again, I will have one. Mom used to say it was a waste of money until she fell out in the back yard. She wasn't hurt but couldn't get up on the gravel. After that I didn't hear anything more. When she broke her hip she set it off again help was immediately available.
You can set up the response anyway you want. Mom wanted them to call me, then my daughter, then 911 if we weren't available. When she broke her hip, she set it off and they asked her if she was ok. She said, "No, I fell and think I broke my hip." The operator asked if she wanted to call 911. Mom said, "No, just call my daughter," I told the gal to call 911. Then I called a neighbor because it took me about an hour to get there.
M88
Medical alert pendants can work but many older adults don't wear them consistently. Also research shows they often don't push the button.
Potentially a better option is a "safe in home" sensor system; I once worked with a family who installed one for a 92 year old relative who lived alone. This doesn't require the older person to remember anything. One day family noticed she hadn't moved during the day; she'd fallen and broken a hip.
Daily phone calls are good for social purposes however. Good luck!