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AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2021 • IDAHO SENIOR INDEPENDENT
Choose a
Medical Alert
System
BY JIM MILLER
(SAVVY SENIOR) A good medical alert sys-
tem is an effective and affordable tool that
can help keep a person safe and living in
their own home longer. But with all the
different products and features available
today, choosing one can be challenging.
Here are some tips that can help.
THREE KEY QUESTIONS
Medical alert systems, which have been
around since the 1980s, provide a wearable
help button—usually in the form of a neck
pendant or wristband—that would put the
user in touch with a dispatcher who could
summon emergency help or contact a friend
or family member as needed.
To help narrow down your options and
choose a system that best fits your needs,
here are three key questions you’ll need to
ask, along with some top-rated companies
that offer these products.
HOME-BASED OR MOBILE SYSTEM?
Medical alert systems were originally
designed to work inside the home with a
landline telephone, which is still an option.
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But since fewer and fewer households have
landlines these days, most companies now
also offer home-based systems that work
over a cellular network. With these systems,
pressing the wearable help button allows
you to speak to a dispatcher through a base
unit located in your home.
In addition, many companies offer
mobile medical alert options, too. You can
use these systems at home, but they’ll also
allow you to call for help while you’re out
and about.
Mobile alerts operate over cellular net-
works and incorporate GPS technology. They
allow you to talk and listen to the operator
directly through the pendant button, and
because of the GPS, your location would be
known in order for help to be sent.
If the user doesn’t leave the house very
often, they may not need a mobile system,
but if they are still active, they may want
added protection outside the home.
MONITORED SYSTEM OR NO?
The best medical alert systems are
monitored, meaning that the help button
connects you with a trained operator at a
24/7 dispatching center.
But you also have the option to choose
a system that isn’t monitored. With these,
when you press the help button, the device
automatically dials a friend or family
member on your programmed emergency
call list.
These products can often be set up to call
multiple people and to contact emergency
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HOME & LIFESTYLE PAGE 9
services if you don’t get an answer from
someone on your list.
FALL-DETECTION FEATURE?
offer the option of an automatic fall detec-
Most medical alert companies today now
tion pendant for an additional fee of $10 to
$15 per month. These pendants sense falls
when they occur and automatically contact
the dispatch center, just as they would if
you had pressed the call button.
But be aware that this technology isn’t
foolproof. In some cases, this feature may
register something as a fall that isn’t. The
alarm might go off if you drop it or momen-
tarily lose your balance but don’t actually
land on the ground.
TOP RATED SYSTEMS
Here are four top companies, rated
by Consumer Reports, that offer home and
mobile monitored medical alert systems:
< Bay Alarm Medical: Fees range between
$20 and $40 per month; BayAlarmMedical.
com; 877-522-9633.
< GreatCall’s Lively Mobile Plus: The
device costs $50 plus a $25 to $40 monthly
service fee; GreatCall.com; 800-650-5921.
< MobileHelp: Monthly fees run $20 to
$45; MobileHelp.com; 800-809-9664.
< Phillips Lifeline: $30 to $50/month, plus a
onetime device/activation fee of $50 to $100;
Lifeline.Philips.com; 855-681-5351. ISI
Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443,
Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller
is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of The
Savvy Senior.