Moving forward with some added features:

For this article I decided to inform you on Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) and Medication Management Systems. This makes it possible to Move forward with Disabilities in Retirement.

In my previous life I had worked for a PERS company for 6 years and then my husband encouraged me to venture out on my own and along with his help and support we started A.E. Medical Alert. I enjoyed what I did and pretty much new what I needed to do for it to be successful. We built the company up in 3 years and then sold it to another PERS company. That is when Curly started his retirement and we moved to Rice Lake, Wisconsin. He was retired and I wanted to start another company. Alpine Medical Alert was formed, and once again I absolutely loved what I was doing.

At the time of Curly’s stroke we were in the process of selling Alpine Medical Alert to a major response center. The deal was finalized after our move to Arizona and I then gave 100% of my time to being Curly’s caregiver. He has now progressed and that is why we are once again doing what I enjoy and we have started this blog.

Many of you probably do not use a PERS system. There are several different types and the advancement in technology is changing daily. It started out with a box and a pendant around the neck. It has now gone to global GPS watch like device where they can find you anywhere. The fees for this vary, not because of companies as much as because of what type of device you choose.

Options are:

Cellular – if you do not have a landline telephone this is the unit you need.

Landline – this is if you want to use the traditional telephone line, usually the least expensive.

A fall pendant can be either wrist or around the neck. Most are waterproof so you can take them into the tub or shower. If you happen to fall it will go off as it hits the floor, etc. The monitoring center will call you back to verify that you need help, if you are unable to answer they will start calling the responders you selected.

If you have an in-home device, they usually pick up for approximately 100 feet. Have the installer check it from the outside so you will know if it picks up at your mailbox, driveway, etc.

Curly has the GPS. This makes it possible for us to go anywhere. His is a wrist unit, however they are now available in a pendant style.

Having a PERS unit can have a reduction of 88.5% chance of returning to your home when the response time is with in 3 hours.

If the timeframe is longer than 12 hours, you have a 2.7% chance of returning to your home. Small investment for the freedom of being safe.

Medication units:

We have used several different types…one was the Med ready, which would rotate and could be monitored with the monitoring center if the client chose, a person from the monitoring center would call you if you forgot to take your medication. All can have the monitoring feature and they tend to be on the higher end of pricing in comparison with the PERS unit. What we need to remember is how much it will cost in $’s and health if you forget to take your medications.

As VRI Monitoring states, “Maintaining adherence to complicated medication protocols can be challenging, but it is important to ensuring health. VRI’s medication management solutions make it easier to be successful with the support of our monitoring teams.”

Vital signs

Larger monitoring companies are now offering Vital signs that can be monitored every day. Check this out online. It is a service that could save someone’s life.

What is a vital monitoring system?

System consists of a modem and vitals monitoring device. With a single touch of a button the vitals and data is transmitted to VRI’s team and care center. If the system algorithm detects that vitals are out of normal expectations, care center contacts the user immediately to check status.

We would highly suggest checking out VRI's website, www.VRIcares.com for any of the above mentioned devices or other questions you may have.