I Wish I Had a Medical Alert Device

A few days ago I was introduced to Stanley. Stanley lives in Kings Point and is the president of one of the community associations. Stanley is helping Personal Living Alert place an ad in the Kings Point Life newspaper. When we approached Stanley the idea of us placing an ad he jumped at the opportunity to help. You see, Stanley believes in our products – Medical Alert Systems and Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERs) and sees the need for his fellow residents and friends.

During our meeting, Stanley recounted three stories of which I will share two today. He personally knows about these situations as they all occurred in the group buildings where he lives and is president.

The first story is about Agnes (not her real name as we were asked not to use it) an 80-something single woman. It seems Agnes went to the kitchen to either prepare something to eat or maybe to get a quick drink. While in the kitchen, Agnes fell and couldn’t get up. We believe she hit her head as she fell. Agnes was badly hurt and laid on the floor for 3 days without medical attention. In fact, she laid on the floor for 3 days before anyone realized they had not seen her. Come the fourth day an astute neighbor noticed mail starting to pile up and contacted Stanley. He immediately obtained the master key and after knocking loudly on Agnes’ door for a minute or two, let himself and the neighbor into her home. They called out Agnes’ name and she answered – “I’m in the kitchen – please help me!” Stanley and the neighbor rushed to Agnes’ side and called 911. If it wasn’t for the actions of a caring neighbor, one doesn’t know how long Agnes would have laid hurt on the floor.

The second story is about Ellen (not her real name as we were asked not to use it) a 70-something single woman who also resides in the same complex as Stanley. It seems Ellen was taking an afternoon nap on the couch and after her nap, she woke. However, Ellen went to stand up too quickly and didn’t give her body a few moments to orient itself. As she stood, Ellen lost her balance and fell hitting her head on the coffee table near her couch. The fall disoriented Ellen and caused her to black out. It took Ellen nearly a full day of laying on the floor in pain and confusion before she was able to get up and call for help.

In both cases the women are fine but in both cases having a Personal Emergency Response System with fall detection from Personal Living Alert would have saved both these ladies from traumatic experiences and would have allowed emergency rescue personnel to arrive within minutes of the fall as opposed to days as in Agnes’ case.

Fabiana can be reached at: fabiana.plalert@gmail.com or www.personallivingalert.com