Is this story familiar to you?
My elderly mom was outside getting the mail when she fell and broke her hip. No one was available to help her and her phone was out of reach. She was unable to move and her alert bracelet was unable to communicate with the base station because she was too far from the house.She waited there in the cold for 3 hours until someone finally found her. She could have easily died from this unfortunate accident. Clair R.
No one is immune from this situation! Many alert systems are very limited and require close proximity to the base station often located in a room in the home.
An automated system to call for help is required by many people with physical or mental challenges!
If your loved one has a handicap that limits their ability to move about and cannot be left alone, then a automated remote monitoring system should be considered. Consideration should be given to the disability and lifestyle of the individual. With the right system, many individuals can still have independence while loved ones can have piece of mind.
Both the needy and the caregiver will benefit from a remote alerting and monitoring system. The physically or mentally challenged, elderly, children or even pregnant women have moments where they require help. In emergency situations these systems are not only invaluable, but also life saving.
Cutting edge technology can provide relief to both the caregiver and to loved ones.
However, technology also introduces other problems. One area in particular is wheelchairs. Wheelchairs can extend an individual’s mobility, but it also means they can potentially travel further from home or available help.
Many otherwise immobile people have found comfort in manual and powered mobility devices. Many are self propelled or pushed by care providers, but technology has improved and cost offsets are in place today where more people are able to use powered wheelchairs and scooters. Regardless of what device is used, mobility and personal freedom is much increased.
Power wheelchairs can travel between 10 and 15 miles on a single battery charge. This distance can potentially place an individual far from either home or other caregiver. The convenience of this power wheelchairs certainly add value to a person with limited mobility. Many people use them not only for moving around the house, yard, residential development, but also for traveling to local shopping centers and visiting friends and family.
Although a mobile phone should be carried by all wheelchair or scooter users, often the user is unable to use the phone for various reasons.
This article looks at other solutions to cellphones to provide greater convenience and reliability and just may be a better solution to limited health risks.
A scooter or powered wheelchair user can travel far from help. A sudden attack or accident could evolve into something much more serious without immediate attention.
What is Alerting and Monitoring?
Monitoring and alerting are separate and distinct events. Alerting provides reporting of monitored parameters. Parameters can be such things heart rate, blood pressure of body position. Most systems provide monitoring solutions, but few provide automated alerting solutions that can really save lives.
Between monitoring and alerting, the most critical is alerting. When a person is in trouble, they need to alert someone for help. However, in an unexpected accident they may not have the ability to call for help. In this situation, automated alerting would be required. The complication with automated alerting is that it requires monitoring.
Monitoring is accomplished by various sensors. For people who are moving the sensors are generally battery-powered. Sensors send data to a computer chip for analyses. If something is wrong then an audible or visible alarm goes off (that alarm is the “alerting” part). Some alerts are more sophisticated and can provide a text message or email. Even more sophisticated are alerts that send messages via telephone.
Monitoring and Alerting Value
Real-time monitoring and alerting for your power wheelchair or any mobile medical device can significantly reduce the danger associated with accidents or physical collapse. A monitoring system can track the user’s location, vital signs, equipment maintenance issues, and can offer a “panic button” all coupled to an automated alert notification system that can be configured to notify the user’s doctor, ambulance, family members, neighbors, local first responders, and other caregivers.
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