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.

New Technology : Blessing or Curse?

The current generation of medical alarm systems hasn't been substantially updated for a few decades. The systems consist of a wireless push button and a console with a speakerphone. The devices have historically been simple and reliable. But not much innovation.
But things are rapidly changing. A new generation of systems has arrived.
Some of these have the speakerphones in the pendants, others have a nurse call feature, sophisticated fall detectors with algorithms that work 97% of the time. Mobile PERS with GPS built in. Which products are winners? What companies will fail and close their doors? And what about the core problem of disappearing POTS phone lines and clients switching to less reliable bundled VOIP solutions and broadband. There are dangers of moving too fast into new unproven technology, and pitfalls of falling behind competitors in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Not to mention the danger of overblown performance claims, and underperforming units that could put a clients life at risk. Some campanies have killed their clients with neck cords that didn't break away when a client fell and cord tangled around a walker.
Some recent examples. New PERS manufacturing company comes to market with speakerphone built into pendant . Aggressive advertising campaign recruit many new players into PERS business. Manufacturers advertises all legacy products obsolete. Company gets in bed with major distributor partner and pretty soon many new competitors appear all over the internet. Two months earlier, these competitors didn't know what a medical alarm was. Distributor buys thousands of these units to push thru to new PERS companies. Companies start selling products. Seniors buy products and discover they are six times size of normal pendants. Heavy and Bulky. Difficult to change batteries. Not really waterproof in shower. 2/3 of the units get returned. New companies unhappy with their new found business failure. Distributor unhappy, units sit in warehouse. Manufacturer gets into patent litigation. Company publicly traded. Shares hover around .01 per share. Total enterprise value $200K. Company still in business. Survival questionable.
Second manufacturing company makes newer smaller unit with speakerphone built in, with more easily changed batteries. But they forgot about the VOIP phone line issue...so the unit only works on POTS lines! Existing PERS manufacturers have been very slow to solve the problem of changing phone technology with VOIP and broadband becoming more popular daily. By the way, this would be a great product for a 10,000 square foot house or for the back yard. Not too many seniors in homes that size. We are waiting for the next generation of this product to solve the phone line issues and will consider offering it at that point.
Anyway, to summarize. Its a technology minefield. We look forward to new technology to offer our clients, but find cash starved companies rushing into market without doing all their homework. Field testing should be done by the companies, not the gullible seniors.
Call me old fashioned. I await solid new technology that is reliable.
I won't sell it until I test it myself and I have a comfort level with the manufacturer financial strength. New technology is great, but at the end of the day we are in a life safety service business where saving lives and increasing independence are our goals. Gimmicks are cute
You can check out my product reviews on you tube.

Medication Dispensers / Medical Alarm Systems

A medication dispenser is a machine that automatically delivers the client their prescribed medications in the correct quantity and at the right time. Many seniors end up in nursing homes because they are not compliant with their medications. This is unfortunate because many could continue to live at home with the help of a medication dispenser. Our system dispenses medications automatically, and needs to be manually refilled (by the caregiver) about once a month, depending on dosage requirements. The system is automatically monitored, so that, if the senior does not open the compartment to take their pill at the appropriate time, the system will make noise, and then send a signal to the monitoring center, so the caregiver can be notified and take appropriate action. This complete service is available for under $90 monthly including our medical alarm system. This can help keep seniors safely at home The alternative, the nursing home, results in reduced independence, and is substantially more costly. We have recently added these products to our medical alert product line. The units are not currently shown on our website www.pioneeremergency.com so call me personally for further information.

Medical Alarm / Customer Testimonials

One of the blessings of the medical alarm business is hearing from clients expressing their appreciation for our services. Its a special business ...saving lives while making a living. We are responsible for saving peoples lives on a daily basis, and we are so busy with the details of running our business, that we don't take the time to solicit referrals. But I can tell you, our staff is very appreciative of hearing the success stories. When I first got involved in the medical alarm business, I visited with my good friend Art Hoffman, of Berkeley, CA who has been in the medical alert business for decades. Art showed me a drawer full of letters that his satisfied clients, had sent to him after his clients pressed their buttons and utilized his services. I was impressed. Today, I've learned it comes with the territory in the medical alert business. After their emergency is under control, we get many calls, e-mails, and letters of appreciation from clients and loved ones. Even when the equipment is returned to us after completion of service, it is often accompanies with a note expressing gratitude for providing family members and loved ones peace of mind. So on behalf of my staff and myself, Thanks and please keep those letters coming. By the way, sometimes we do post these letter to freshen up our website. If you are a current client and want to express your gratitude just call our testimonial hotline at 800 609 9006 extension 3333.

Acadian Ambulance Heroes Working Overtime

It is Sunday August 31, the day before Labor Day 2008. Hurricane Gustav (now Cat 3) is heading for the coast of Louisiana. Acadian Ambulance (our monitoring center) has activated their back up center, and are now monitoring from both Lafayette, LA and Houston, TX. Eight Acadian Monitoring center A Team members were dispatched to Houston yesterday. The monitoring locations are 242 miles apart. This sounded like a good plan when it was implemented post Katrina. However, no one knows exactly where the hurricane will go.

Acadian Ambulance is extremely well prepared. Their preparations were demonstrated, tested and refine since Katrina. They are the first responders for medical assistance for the most of Louisiana, Mississippi, and parts of Texas. For the past 60 hours they were busy evacuating 1000 people from hospitals, nursing homes, including babies from NICU units.
My concern has multiple levels. First, I'm concerned for all the people in the Gulf Coast. Katrina was three years ago. Many people have still not recovered. Second, I have friends at Acadian that I have worked with for years. I talk with Acadian every day. I spoke with my friend Blane Comeaux yesterday. He was packing his prized possesions from his house in his SUV. He lives in Abbeville, LA and the expected storm surge may take his home. Like other Acadian members, he somehow manages to put this aside, so he can take care of others. His wife, is busy working at the hospital, she is a nurse specializing in Neonatal pediatrics. My heart and prayers go out to all the Acadian team members (2700 strong) who are dedicated to protecting and saving the lives of the Gulf community. Last, I am concerned about the thousands of Pioneer Emergency clients. Acadians primary monitoring center should survive, it was built to withstand 170 mph winds. The building (which also houses the backup 911 center for the region) has dual redundant power lines from the city in two directions. Phone lines are dual path fiber optic lines. It has dual redundant UPS systems, and dual redundant generators. The computer systems between Houston and Lafayette mirror each other. There are cells phones and multiple 2 way radio systems for communication. Last Hurricane Acadian staffed 100 inbound phone lines throughout the emergency. Inc. magazine awarded the company runner up for Entrapeneur of the Year , and they were credited with saving 7000 lives during Katrina. In short, everything humanly and technologically possible is ready to go. The monitoring center also has a third backup plan with a disaster recovery center in Michigan...just in case. I'm still worried, and concerned. No one expected a storm of this magnitude. I'm praying for all my friends at Acadian, our clients and all the people in the affected area. My son Matthew just called me to inquire about the situation and our medical alert clients. I told him I am cautiously confident. Having multi-state resources has become essential. The Hurricane contingency plans are in place, they have been rehearsed and they are being methodically executed. Good Luck to everyone affected and may G-d Bless you.

Seniors Living Alone

Almost every day in our business, I am reminded that seniors living alone sometimes need a little extra help. Last week a feisty, independent and proud senior needed some assistance plugging in her medical alert system. After she spoke with one of our customer service representatives, the call was accelerated to me. The poor lady could not find her telephone jack. When I suggested to her that her daughter could help solve the problem in 3 minutes, she got insulted and threatened to return the unit ! Then tearfully , she told me how painful it was for her to ask for help from her daughter. She indicated getting her daughter to help her was like pulling teeth. I contacted the daughter to explain the situation. The daughter explained to me that she had already told her Mother that she (the daughter)would hook up the system later that day. About three hours later the daughter called me to report that she had painlessly installed the system in minutes by following the E-Z written directions and it worked perfectly. Sometimes the tension between parent and adult children grows as the roles reverse and the adult child becomes the caretaker. Fortunately everyone got what they wanted. The daughter and the mother both get peace of mind they deserve from their new medical alarm.