January is our Busiest Month

Just this past week we got a call from a young lady that told us that "After spending time in December with my aging parents, their frailty became almost impossible to ignore. Though they remained cheerful with their living situation, I couldn't help but notice the way they took much longer to perform their day to day tasks. Mom took much longer to work her way around the kitchen and it took Dad longer to go to the bathroom during those commercial breaks during his beloved ball games." We know that for many children with elderly parents just like mine and yours, spending holidays with our parents is enough to make us realize that we need to bring up the discussion of a medical alarm system. For that reason, January is the busiest month for the medical alarm system.

The realization that the parents need the medical alarm system can be a difficult decision to come to, for both our parents and us. As children, it's hard to look at the people who looked after you and cared for you during your weakest moments and realize that they could be in danger during the times you aren't there to look out for them.

For your aging parents, the discussion can bring up concerns about their independence being taken away. For some, any implication that they might need assistance could serve as a warning that they are not quite as self-sufficient as they once might have been. This raises concerns about needing to live in assisted living homes or nursing homes.

But the very things that both we and our elderly parents fear are reasons that medical alarm systems are a good idea to have in one's home. For you, the systems allow peace of mind that comes with knowing that your parent will still be safe, even though you can't be there to constantly check on your parent.
For your aging parent, medical alarm systems allow help to come more quickly in the event of an emergency. This can actually help reduce the amount of long term damage done by a fall or other medical emergency. As a result, the need for long term medical care is diminished and the time spent in assisted living or nursing homes can be eliminated.

So while the conversation about medical alarm systems may be a difficult one to have, it is an essential part of the aging process, both for the elderly and for those of us who love them. Historically, it buys our parents two additional years of living independently. Two years of living in their own home versus a senior facility.
Priceless.

More on New Technology

Everyone wants to have the latest and the greatest in technology. But what about when the hype exceeds the benefits? Lets start with the fall detectors. We are getting more and more calls for them as some of our competitors advertise them aggressively. If you can read the fine print, the units work 90+ % of the time, so many build in a push button anyway. Our customer experience on the fall detectors stands at 100%. We have returned 100% of the units clients ordered, and exchanged them for old fashioned tried and true waterproof buttons. Clients complained the fall detectors we bought false were too sensitive and false activated too many times. Clients reported "life was hell" with the buttons. We will continue to test all available products in anticipation of the day, that they work as advertised. Caveat emptor. We have completely pulled these off the shelves.
A second new trend we see is incorporating the microphone and speakerphone into the wearable button. We believe, one vendor, has finally gotten this correct. But, the button is still 5X bigger than our standard button, the battery life is months instead of years, it is pricier...and lastly how many seniors are living in 8-10,000 square foot homes. Our standard unit covers a 3500 sq. ft.
house easily, and its reliability has been proven for 25+ years. We have these units in stock in case you live in a castle.
What we do need. More and more of our clients are switching phone services to VOIP, cable companies, or giving up landlines. We are waiting for our manufacturers to deliver a reliable system that works via GSM cellular at a reasonable cost for our senior clients. We remind our manufacturers of this regularly, but we are still waiting. I can only speculate the manufacturers don't think the market size is sufficient to spend the money to build one.
We are now handling a mobile 911 phone for emergency use. It is not a fancy full featured phone, rather quite simple. It only does one thing, it dials 911. It is not designed to replace our medical alarms, as it is not small, waterproof, no long life battery...etc.
Please visit our website www.pioneeremergency.com for further information.