Medical alert pendant or a daily check-in call?
They get compared as if they did the same job. They do not. A pendant is for the moment she knows something is wrong and can ask for help. A check-in call is for the day she cannot, or does not.
Updated
What a pendant covers
A medical alert pendant or watch connects her to a call center or to family when she presses the button. Some models also try to notice a fall by themselves. When it works it is fast, and help can be on the way within minutes.
It depends on three things: that she is wearing it, that she is conscious, and that she decides to press it. People take them off to shower and to sleep, which is exactly when some falls happen. And some people will not press it, because they do not want to make a fuss.
What a check-in call covers
A daily call needs nothing from her except picking up the phone she already has. There is no device to wear or to charge. If she does not answer, it rings again, then tells the people on your list. The silence is the alarm.
It is slower. With Care, about half an hour passes between the first ring and you being told. And it checks once a day, or up to three times if you set it, so a fall just after the morning call would not show up until the next one.
It also hears things a button never will. "I didn't sleep." "My knee is bad again." "Tell my daughter the package came." Those reach you in her words.
Side by side
| Pendant or watch | Daily check-in call | |
|---|---|---|
| What she has to do | Wear it, and press the button | Pick up her own phone |
| If she cannot ask for help | Only fall detection, where the model has it | The unanswered call is reported |
| How fast you hear | Minutes, once pressed | About half an hour with Care |
| Equipment | A device to wear and to charge | Any phone, a landline works |
| What you learn about her day | Nothing, unless she presses | Her answers, written down |
Cameras and sensors
Motion sensors and cameras can notice that nobody has walked through the kitchen all morning. They need installing, an internet connection, and her agreement to being watched in her own home. For some families that is fine. For a lot of parents it is the one thing they will not accept.
When to have both
If she has fallen before, is unsteady on her feet, or has a heart or breathing condition, a pendant makes sense, and a daily call covers the days it is left on the nightstand. If she is independent and would refuse a pendant, a daily call is often what she will agree to, because to her it is just a phone call.
Neither one replaces 911. Every Care call says so out loud before it asks her anything.
Questions
- Can a check-in call detect a fall?
- No. It can tell you she did not answer, and it tells you right away if she says she fell.
- Does a check-in call replace a medical alert system?
- Not for somebody at risk of sudden falls. It covers different moments: the days the pendant is not worn, and the days she would not press it.
- Does a check-in call replace 911?
- No. Care says at the start of every call that it is not an emergency service, and to hang up and dial 911 if she needs help now.