Integrating a Senior Medical Alert System with Exercises to Help Prevent Falls By Stefanie Jeanne

While the use of a senior medical alert can be instrumental in preventing accidental falls among seniors, there is nothing more effective in falls prevention that helping the senior stay as physically fit as possible. Contrary to what may seem obvious, seniors can actually have a fighting chance against the possibility of figuring in accidental falls. Preventing accidental falls is highly important, especially due to the fact that when it happens to an elderly person, the physical damage can be serious, lasting and, sometimes fatal. So engaging in certain exercises for the specific purpose of regaining your sense of mobility, agility and balance should not only be among your top priorities, but should also become a regular part of your daily schedule.

The following are just some of the simple exercises you can do on your own to protect yourself from accidental falls.

Leg exercises: strengthening your legs and hips is important in enabling you to maintain and control your own stability. This stability is vital, especially when you?re walking, leaning, or standing. Accidental falls occur when, for example, an elderly person stands on a chair to fix a light bulb, and that person momentarily loses their sense of stability.

To do a simple leg exercise, look for a good chair with a back rest that is about the same level as your elbows. With your feet at rest side by side and as you face the back of the chair, slowly lift one of your legs out to the side. Try to lift that leg as high up as possible without having to lean your torso in the opposite direction. Maintain for a few seconds, than slowly lower the leg down. Now do the same with the other leg. Repeat a dozen or more times for each leg.

Other important parts of your legs are those muscles you use for sitting and standing. By strengthening these muscle groups, you further ensure your own stability when you sit or stand. For this strengthening exercise, you should find any chair with arms. Place it in the middle of an open room?the living room would be good as long as it is not so cramped or there is enough leg room. Sit on the said chair, and make sure that both of your feet touch the floor evenly, which also means you should be using a chair with just the right height. As you sit on the chair, slowly try to stand up, using your arms (which should be using the chair?s arms for support) to push up and out of the chair. When you are fully standing up, slowly resume the sitting position in such a way that you are lowering your upper leg muscles onto the seat. Repeat a few more times or until failure.

Another leg muscle that you should work out are the quads, as they are responsible for maintaining your balance and stability while you are walking and in preventing your own legs from turning into rubber, so to speak. A good strengthening exercise for the quads is by the use of a chair. Sit on a chair with your legs naturally bent and your feet on the sides, the soles of your feet evenly planted on the floor as much as possible. Slowly lift your foot off the floor, then extend your leg by straightening it out in front of you and in such a way that the leg is parallel to the floor. Lower it back down then do the same with the other leg. Even better, try to point your toes forward during the peak of your extension so as to further work up the quads. Repeat as you feel necessary or until failure.

Strengthening the ankles: the experts from the American Council on Exercise assert that having a weak ankle is a major factor in increasing one?s risk of falling. The goal, therefore, is to never forget the role of the ankles in helping you maintain stability in standing and walking. The good thing is that, like other leg muscles, the ankles can be fully strengthened with some simple exercises. Get a towel that is sufficiently long to be wrapped around the bottom of your foot?the purpose of the towel is to provide something you can hold onto while you are seated. Tug on the towel to add some resistance as you make figure 8 patterns with your foot. Repeat the same with the other foot as often as necessary or until failure.

You can spend as little as 15 to 20 minutes in doing these exercises. Apart from using an actual senior medical alert to ensure that you?ll get instant medical assistance just in case an accident actually happens, engaging in these exercises daily is a truly great way to safeguard your own well-being.

Medical Alert Systems and In Home Care Can Combat Rising Healthcare Costs By Kristin Palardy

A medical alert system can bring children of aging parents the peace of mind of knowing that their parents, who may live alone, can reach help if they experience a fall or other accident. The most common reason for purchasing a medical alert is wanting to make sure that an elderly loved one who is generally able to live independently is able to reach help when they need it. But can this tool for independent living also be a weapon in the fight against rising healthcare costs in the United States?

The population of the United States includes 39 million individuals over the age of 65 as of 2008, and by the year 2030, this number is expected to skyrocket to 72 million, as "Baby Boomers" reach the age of 65.

So, the aging population is growing. The individuals of the "baby boom" generation are reaching senior age, causing the senior population to increase dramatically. Not only that, but healthcare advances have allowed people to live longer; there are many more people reaching their 80?s, 90?s and even past 100. Those who reach these ages are, on average, suffering a large number of physical ailments and as a consequence, they consistently incur high medical expenses.

More seniors, fighting more physical ailments means a higher healthcare cost amongst our increasingly senior population. In fact, by the year 2030, health care for seniors is predicted to account for 25% of all the nation?s health care expenditures.

This is where a medical alert system can help. The price of equipment rental and monitoring can be less than $1 per day; a long hospital stay costs much more than that. The longer a senior waits to receive help after a fall, the more complications they will experience.

If a senior citizen falls, and is unable to summon help within the first hour, they are extremely likely to lose their independence, and most in this situation are ultimately placed in nursing homes.

With a medical alert system, an individual can get quick help, which often eliminates the need for a lengthy hospital stay, and prevents seniors from experiencing complications from their fall that land them permanently in a nursing home or care facility.

In conjunction with in-home care provided either by a professional service or a member of the senior?s family, a medical alert system can keep an elderly individual out of a hospital, out of a nursing home, and can extend the amount of time in which he or she can live at home safely.

The average cost of nursing homes can top an average pricetag of $83,585/year, or $229/day. A medical alert system rental and monthly monitoring service costs less than $1/day.

While the rapidly rising population of seniors in the United States as well as recent changes to Medicare almost certainly guarantee a drastic spike in healthcare costs, this increase can be slowed. Preventative measures are the key to lowering healthcare costs in the United States, as it decreases the amount of costly emergency care and the many expenditures that come when an individual is no longer able to live in their homes.

Medical Alert Systems and Signs Your Aging Parents Need Help: What you Need to Know By Kristin Anne

Parents, to us, have always been the people who took care of us. When we were kids, they were unflappable, and there wasn?t a crisis (yours or theirs) they couldn?t handle. Now they?re getting older, and you can see their weaknesses start to show through. Our parents are human, and now that we?re visiting family for the holidays, we may notice that something?s different about mom or dad.

When you see signs of declining health in your parents?, that is when taking action will be the most effective. The best action is to find a method of preventing accidents before they happen in your aging parents? homes. This may mean looking into medical alert systems, nursing homes, retirement communities or in-home care. The discussion may be difficult, but is so much easier than dealing with the aftermath of an accident at home. So what is there to look for?

Changes in Health:
- You notice bruises on your loved one?s arms, legs, or face
- Your loved one has trouble balancing, sitting down, or standing up
- There is evidence of weight loss, or eating habits become less healthy. (Over eating, under eating, eating only candy, refusing to cook)

Changes in Attitude/ Behavior:
- Your once sweet and kind mother has snapped at you or another family member.
- Your parent seems disoriented, not as "sharp" as they once were, or slow to react.
- Your Parent has begun to slur their words in conversation.
- Your parent has received speeding tickets, and gotten into more accidents than is normal.

Changes in Routine:
- Hygenic habits such as brushing teeth, showering/bathing, and hand washing seem to have stopped (You smell odors in the home like urine, or body odor)
- Your mother who was once super-tidy has stopped cleaning, and clutter has started to build up in every corner of her home.
- Your father, who once took great pride in his appearance, has stopped combing his hair, ironing his clothes, etc.

So, now in this holiday season when we?re seeing our parents for the first time in months in some cases, pay attention to the subtle cues that perhaps your once young and strong parents may need your help.

Have the talk with your parents, if you suspect they need help, and discuss your concerns, and ideas for a solution. A medical alert system, home care, nursing facilities, and medical attention can all help, but the first step for those that think these solutions are necessary is to talk.

Why Caregivers and Doctors Recommend Medical Alert Systems By Stefanie Jeanne

Doctors know the importance of having round-the-clock medical monitoring, especially for high-risk patients. Any serious medical emergency could occur anytime, and because doctors have no accurate way of predicting when it would happen, the only logical way to manage it is by conducting 24-hour monitoring of the patient. However, such kind of monitoring is not particularly cost-effective, especially for patients or seniors who are still able to get around.

Caregivers, on the other hand, could only do so much. Such as attending to the ache and pains of the senior, helping them with bathing, and assisting them with their daily activities, but their attention is limited. Unless we?re speaking of multiple caregivers who alternate shifts in 24-hour periods, caregivers would go home at the end of the day, leaving the senior on their own.

Obviously, there is a gap in attention, and unfortunately, it is through those gaps that accidents happen. Caregivers and doctors recommend medical alert systems primarily because the service could accomplish things that they could not. Usually, caregivers have other responsibilities and concerns?they also have a life, a family to attend to, and a job that demands their professional attention. That?s why giving all the obligations on the caregiver?s shoulders is essentially risking eventual neglect of the senior.

These days, medical alerts are advanced and efficient. Back during their early days in the 1970s, medical alerts were bulky, and it was hard for seniors to wear the devices. Worse, the early medical alerts were not waterproof, so they could not be worn in the bathroom. This was a crucial weakness: most accidents involving seniors occur in the bathroom?a slip on the tiled floor or the bath tub can be fatal when not immediately attended to.

Fortunately, like other in-demand and important technologies, medical alerts have evolved in terms of sophistication and efficiency. No longer are such devices bulky and a hassle to use. The medical alerts you?ll find being offered by different providers these days are built and designed for daily durability?they are waterproof and can be worn at all times, even when the wearer is in the bathroom. The medical alerts are also small, lightweight and designed compactly enough that it is easy for the wearer to be no longer self-conscious about it.

Using a medical alert system is so simple that even seniors who find trouble understanding technical instructions will be able to quickly use the system. Basically, there are no technical instructions?the senior only needs to "wear" the device (either as a bracelet or as a necklace pendant) and press the button whenever a need arises. Whether the seniors is plagued with?a heart attack, a dizziness spell?and they?re alone in the house with the caregiver miles away, they simply press that button and a professionally trained response center responder will speak to them from the loudspeaker of the system?s base unit. Other types of medical alerts can also be set to automatically call 911 or the nearest neighbor or medical facility whenever the device "detects" that the senior has an accident in the home?a slip on the floor, a fall, or some sudden inactivity that may indicate loss of consciousness.

A medical alert system can enable doctors or caregivers to have a better control of their loved one?s situation?the devices and the 24/7 monitoring associated with their use can easily fill in what the common caregiver could not do, which is remain with their aging loved one at all times. After all, a medical alert system, thanks to technological advances in manufacturing and wireless communication, is now very affordable, with a minimal monthly fee of around $20. For the breadth and scope of a medical alert system?s service, along with its other perks, we?d say that the monthly service fee is indeed a very small price to pay for ensuring the safety of a loved one.

Medical Alert: Enabling Seniors to Connect Instantly to Caregivers By Stefanie Jeanne

To fully appreciate the efficiency of a medical alert system in the context of complementing the work of caregivers, let us consider an actual real-world case. Madelyn is a subscriber to one of the leading medical alert system companies. She is 60, with narcolepsy, and lives alone at her own home in California. One day, she decides to change the light bulb in her kitchen. As there is no one else to do the job, and because it is supposedly a simple job of unscrewing the old bulb and replacing it with a new one, she gets up on the short ladder and begins removing the old bulb. At one point, however, the table slightly moves and Madelyn loses her balance and she ends up on the floor, writhing in pain, her hips probably shattered. The phone is on the other side of the house, and if not for the medical alert device she?s wearing around her neck, Madelyn?s situation could have been worse. She presses the panic button, contact is made with the medical alert system?s response center, and within minutes one of Madelyn?s registered responders (whose numbers she registered with her medical alert device) arrive to give her assistance as they waited for the ambulance?s arrival. And while Madelyn subsequently endures months of hospitalization (her age and the location of the bone fracture made her condition complicated), it is obvious that things could have been a lot worse if not for the timely response of the medical alert system?s monitoring center.

Now, the abovementioned story is not a fairytale?it is actually based on a case file from a medical alert system provider. The lesson here is simple: a medical alert system is designed to allow further flexibility for caregivers. In fact, it smoothly complements?and even extends?the duties of a caregiver in order to give the senior the best care possible.

Most medical alert systems can be programmed to register the numbers of the persons that you want to be notified first in the event of an emergency. Most people register the neighbors that they trust, while others register relatives, or their grown children if they happen to live nearby. While notifying next of kin or caregivers, the response center will also send the necessary medical help from the medical facility that is located nearest the patient?s address. The whole system is set up with emphasis on efficiency and speed: in a few minutes, barring other mishaps, able hands are arriving to help.

Seniors can connect much faster to caregivers in an emergency with a medical alert, thanks to the device?s single push-button action: there is nothing to confuse the senior wearing the device because there are no other options. You just press it. Also, the wearer does not have to worry about pressing the button by mistake when they don?t even need medical help, the response center understands that such harmless mistakes can occur and, after all, it is better to be mistaken than to be sorry about failing to respond quickly to a real issue. In fact, most medical alert companies want you to test the device periodically by pressing the button and making sure you are comfortable using the system.

The medical alert system?s design is so simple. That is why you will never find a medical alert system accompanied with pages and pages of how-to guides. The medical alert system itself is pretty much direct to the point: the package contains nothing but the wearable medical alert device and the base unit.

In the end, a medical alert system provides so many benefits and advantages to both the senior and the caregiver that there is hardly any argument against using it. To top it off, the monthly service fee is very reasonable, especially when one considers that the monitoring service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Indeed, ordering a medical alert is one of the best proactive decisions a caregiver can make to bring back quality to a senior?s life.

Medical Alert: Enabling Seniors to Connect Instantly to Caregivers By Stefanie Jeanne

To fully appreciate the efficiency of a medical alert system in the context of complementing the work of caregivers, let us consider an actual real-world case. Madelyn is a subscriber to one of the leading medical alert system companies. She is 60, with narcolepsy, and lives alone at her own home in California. One day, she decides to change the light bulb in her kitchen. As there is no one else to do the job, and because it is supposedly a simple job of unscrewing the old bulb and replacing it with a new one, she gets up on the short ladder and begins removing the old bulb. At one point, however, the table slightly moves and Madelyn loses her balance and she ends up on the floor, writhing in pain, her hips probably shattered. The phone is on the other side of the house, and if not for the medical alert device she?s wearing around her neck, Madelyn?s situation could have been worse. She presses the panic button, contact is made with the medical alert system?s response center, and within minutes one of Madelyn?s registered responders (whose numbers she registered with her medical alert device) arrive to give her assistance as they waited for the ambulance?s arrival. And while Madelyn subsequently endures months of hospitalization (her age and the location of the bone fracture made her condition complicated), it is obvious that things could have been a lot worse if not for the timely response of the medical alert system?s monitoring center.

Now, the abovementioned story is not a fairytale?it is actually based on a case file from a medical alert system provider. The lesson here is simple: a medical alert system is designed to allow further flexibility for caregivers. In fact, it smoothly complements?and even extends?the duties of a caregiver in order to give the senior the best care possible.

Most medical alert systems can be programmed to register the numbers of the persons that you want to be notified first in the event of an emergency. Most people register the neighbors that they trust, while others register relatives, or their grown children if they happen to live nearby. While notifying next of kin or caregivers, the response center will also send the necessary medical help from the medical facility that is located nearest the patient?s address. The whole system is set up with emphasis on efficiency and speed: in a few minutes, barring other mishaps, able hands are arriving to help.

Seniors can connect much faster to caregivers in an emergency with a medical alert, thanks to the device?s single push-button action: there is nothing to confuse the senior wearing the device because there are no other options. You just press it. Also, the wearer does not have to worry about pressing the button by mistake when they don?t even need medical help, the response center understands that such harmless mistakes can occur and, after all, it is better to be mistaken than to be sorry about failing to respond quickly to a real issue. In fact, most medical alert companies want you to test the device periodically by pressing the button and making sure you are comfortable using the system.

The medical alert system?s design is so simple. That is why you will never find a medical alert system accompanied with pages and pages of how-to guides. The medical alert system itself is pretty much direct to the point: the package contains nothing but the wearable medical alert device and the base unit.

In the end, a medical alert system provides so many benefits and advantages to both the senior and the caregiver that there is hardly any argument against using it. To top it off, the monthly service fee is very reasonable, especially when one considers that the monitoring service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Indeed, ordering a medical alert is one of the best proactive decisions a caregiver can make to bring back quality to a senior?s life.

Medical Alert Systems and In Home Care Can Combat Rising Healthcare Costs By Kristin Palardy

A medical alert system can bring children of aging parents the peace of mind of knowing that their parents, who may live alone, can reach help if they experience a fall or other accident. The most common reason for purchasing a medical alert is wanting to make sure that an elderly loved one who is generally able to live independently is able to reach help when they need it. But can this tool for independent living also be a weapon in the fight against rising healthcare costs in the United States?

The population of the United States includes 39 million individuals over the age of 65 as of 2008, and by the year 2030, this number is expected to skyrocket to 72 million, as "Baby Boomers" reach the age of 65.

So, the aging population is growing. The individuals of the "baby boom" generation are reaching senior age, causing the senior population to increase dramatically. Not only that, but healthcare advances have allowed people to live longer; there are many more people reaching their 80?s, 90?s and even past 100. Those who reach these ages are, on average, suffering a large number of physical ailments and as a consequence, they consistently incur high medical expenses.

More seniors, fighting more physical ailments means a higher healthcare cost amongst our increasingly senior population. In fact, by the year 2030, health care for seniors is predicted to account for 25% of all the nation?s health care expenditures.

This is where a medical alert system can help. The price of equipment rental and monitoring can be less than $1 per day; a long hospital stay costs much more than that. The longer a senior waits to receive help after a fall, the more complications they will experience.

If a senior citizen falls, and is unable to summon help within the first hour, they are extremely likely to lose their independence, and most in this situation are ultimately placed in nursing homes.

With a medical alert system, an individual can get quick help, which often eliminates the need for a lengthy hospital stay, and prevents seniors from experiencing complications from their fall that land them permanently in a nursing home or care facility.

In conjunction with in-home care provided either by a professional service or a member of the senior?s family, a medical alert system can keep an elderly individual out of a hospital, out of a nursing home, and can extend the amount of time in which he or she can live at home safely.

The average cost of nursing homes can top an average pricetag of $83,585/year, or $229/day. A medical alert system rental and monthly monitoring service costs less than $1/day.

While the rapidly rising population of seniors in the United States as well as recent changes to Medicare almost certainly guarantee a drastic spike in healthcare costs, this increase can be slowed. Preventative measures are the key to lowering healthcare costs in the United States, as it decreases the amount of costly emergency care and the many expenditures that come when an individual is no longer able to live in their homes.

Integrating a Senior Medical Alert System with Exercises to Help Prevent Falls By Stefanie Jeanne

While the use of a senior medical alert can be instrumental in preventing accidental falls among seniors, there is nothing more effective in falls prevention that helping the senior stay as physically fit as possible. Contrary to what may seem obvious, seniors can actually have a fighting chance against the possibility of figuring in accidental falls. Preventing accidental falls is highly important, especially due to the fact that when it happens to an elderly person, the physical damage can be serious, lasting and, sometimes fatal. So engaging in certain exercises for the specific purpose of regaining your sense of mobility, agility and balance should not only be among your top priorities, but should also become a regular part of your daily schedule.

The following are just some of the simple exercises you can do on your own to protect yourself from accidental falls.

Leg exercises: strengthening your legs and hips is important in enabling you to maintain and control your own stability. This stability is vital, especially when you?re walking, leaning, or standing. Accidental falls occur when, for example, an elderly person stands on a chair to fix a light bulb, and that person momentarily loses their sense of stability.

To do a simple leg exercise, look for a good chair with a back rest that is about the same level as your elbows. With your feet at rest side by side and as you face the back of the chair, slowly lift one of your legs out to the side. Try to lift that leg as high up as possible without having to lean your torso in the opposite direction. Maintain for a few seconds, than slowly lower the leg down. Now do the same with the other leg. Repeat a dozen or more times for each leg.

Other important parts of your legs are those muscles you use for sitting and standing. By strengthening these muscle groups, you further ensure your own stability when you sit or stand. For this strengthening exercise, you should find any chair with arms. Place it in the middle of an open room?the living room would be good as long as it is not so cramped or there is enough leg room. Sit on the said chair, and make sure that both of your feet touch the floor evenly, which also means you should be using a chair with just the right height. As you sit on the chair, slowly try to stand up, using your arms (which should be using the chair?s arms for support) to push up and out of the chair. When you are fully standing up, slowly resume the sitting position in such a way that you are lowering your upper leg muscles onto the seat. Repeat a few more times or until failure.

Another leg muscle that you should work out are the quads, as they are responsible for maintaining your balance and stability while you are walking and in preventing your own legs from turning into rubber, so to speak. A good strengthening exercise for the quads is by the use of a chair. Sit on a chair with your legs naturally bent and your feet on the sides, the soles of your feet evenly planted on the floor as much as possible. Slowly lift your foot off the floor, then extend your leg by straightening it out in front of you and in such a way that the leg is parallel to the floor. Lower it back down then do the same with the other leg. Even better, try to point your toes forward during the peak of your extension so as to further work up the quads. Repeat as you feel necessary or until failure.

Strengthening the ankles: the experts from the American Council on Exercise assert that having a weak ankle is a major factor in increasing one?s risk of falling. The goal, therefore, is to never forget the role of the ankles in helping you maintain stability in standing and walking. The good thing is that, like other leg muscles, the ankles can be fully strengthened with some simple exercises. Get a towel that is sufficiently long to be wrapped around the bottom of your foot?the purpose of the towel is to provide something you can hold onto while you are seated. Tug on the towel to add some resistance as you make figure 8 patterns with your foot. Repeat the same with the other foot as often as necessary or until failure.

You can spend as little as 15 to 20 minutes in doing these exercises. Apart from using an actual senior medical alert to ensure that you?ll get instant medical assistance just in case an accident actually happens, engaging in these exercises daily is a truly great way to safeguard your own well-being.

Why Caregivers and Doctors Recommend Medical Alert Systems By Stefanie Jeanne

Doctors know the importance of having round-the-clock medical monitoring, especially for high-risk patients. Any serious medical emergency could occur anytime, and because doctors have no accurate way of predicting when it would happen, the only logical way to manage it is by conducting 24-hour monitoring of the patient. However, such kind of monitoring is not particularly cost-effective, especially for patients or seniors who are still able to get around.

Caregivers, on the other hand, could only do so much. Such as attending to the ache and pains of the senior, helping them with bathing, and assisting them with their daily activities, but their attention is limited. Unless we?re speaking of multiple caregivers who alternate shifts in 24-hour periods, caregivers would go home at the end of the day, leaving the senior on their own.

Obviously, there is a gap in attention, and unfortunately, it is through those gaps that accidents happen. Caregivers and doctors recommend medical alert systems primarily because the service could accomplish things that they could not. Usually, caregivers have other responsibilities and concerns?they also have a life, a family to attend to, and a job that demands their professional attention. That?s why giving all the obligations on the caregiver?s shoulders is essentially risking eventual neglect of the senior.

These days, medical alerts are advanced and efficient. Back during their early days in the 1970s, medical alerts were bulky, and it was hard for seniors to wear the devices. Worse, the early medical alerts were not waterproof, so they could not be worn in the bathroom. This was a crucial weakness: most accidents involving seniors occur in the bathroom?a slip on the tiled floor or the bath tub can be fatal when not immediately attended to.

Fortunately, like other in-demand and important technologies, medical alerts have evolved in terms of sophistication and efficiency. No longer are such devices bulky and a hassle to use. The medical alerts you?ll find being offered by different providers these days are built and designed for daily durability?they are waterproof and can be worn at all times, even when the wearer is in the bathroom. The medical alerts are also small, lightweight and designed compactly enough that it is easy for the wearer to be no longer self-conscious about it.

Using a medical alert system is so simple that even seniors who find trouble understanding technical instructions will be able to quickly use the system. Basically, there are no technical instructions?the senior only needs to "wear" the device (either as a bracelet or as a necklace pendant) and press the button whenever a need arises. Whether the seniors is plagued with?a heart attack, a dizziness spell?and they?re alone in the house with the caregiver miles away, they simply press that button and a professionally trained response center responder will speak to them from the loudspeaker of the system?s base unit. Other types of medical alerts can also be set to automatically call 911 or the nearest neighbor or medical facility whenever the device "detects" that the senior has an accident in the home?a slip on the floor, a fall, or some sudden inactivity that may indicate loss of consciousness.

A medical alert system can enable doctors or caregivers to have a better control of their loved one?s situation?the devices and the 24/7 monitoring associated with their use can easily fill in what the common caregiver could not do, which is remain with their aging loved one at all times. After all, a medical alert system, thanks to technological advances in manufacturing and wireless communication, is now very affordable, with a minimal monthly fee of around $20. For the breadth and scope of a medical alert system?s service, along with its other perks, we?d say that the monthly service fee is indeed a very small price to pay for ensuring the safety of a loved one.

Medical Alert Systems and Signs Your Aging Parents Need Help: What you Need to Know By Kristin Anne

Parents, to us, have always been the people who took care of us. When we were kids, they were unflappable, and there wasn?t a crisis (yours or theirs) they couldn?t handle. Now they?re getting older, and you can see their weaknesses start to show through. Our parents are human, and now that we?re visiting family for the holidays, we may notice that something?s different about mom or dad.

When you see signs of declining health in your parents?, that is when taking action will be the most effective. The best action is to find a method of preventing accidents before they happen in your aging parents? homes. This may mean looking into medical alert systems, nursing homes, retirement communities or in-home care. The discussion may be difficult, but is so much easier than dealing with the aftermath of an accident at home. So what is there to look for?

Changes in Health:
- You notice bruises on your loved one?s arms, legs, or face
- Your loved one has trouble balancing, sitting down, or standing up
- There is evidence of weight loss, or eating habits become less healthy. (Over eating, under eating, eating only candy, refusing to cook)

Changes in Attitude/ Behavior:
- Your once sweet and kind mother has snapped at you or another family member.
- Your parent seems disoriented, not as "sharp" as they once were, or slow to react.
- Your Parent has begun to slur their words in conversation.
- Your parent has received speeding tickets, and gotten into more accidents than is normal.

Changes in Routine:
- Hygenic habits such as brushing teeth, showering/bathing, and hand washing seem to have stopped (You smell odors in the home like urine, or body odor)
- Your mother who was once super-tidy has stopped cleaning, and clutter has started to build up in every corner of her home.
- Your father, who once took great pride in his appearance, has stopped combing his hair, ironing his clothes, etc.

So, now in this holiday season when we?re seeing our parents for the first time in months in some cases, pay attention to the subtle cues that perhaps your once young and strong parents may need your help.

Have the talk with your parents, if you suspect they need help, and discuss your concerns, and ideas for a solution. A medical alert system, home care, nursing facilities, and medical attention can all help, but the first step for those that think these solutions are necessary is to talk.

Why Caregivers and Doctors Recommend Medical Alert Systems By Stefanie Jeanne

Doctors know the importance of having round-the-clock medical monitoring, especially for high-risk patients. Any serious medical emergency could occur anytime, and because doctors have no accurate way of predicting when it would happen, the only logical way to manage it is by conducting 24-hour monitoring of the patient. However, such kind of monitoring is not particularly cost-effective, especially for patients or seniors who are still able to get around.

Caregivers, on the other hand, could only do so much. Such as attending to the ache and pains of the senior, helping them with bathing, and assisting them with their daily activities, but their attention is limited. Unless we?re speaking of multiple caregivers who alternate shifts in 24-hour periods, caregivers would go home at the end of the day, leaving the senior on their own.

Obviously, there is a gap in attention, and unfortunately, it is through those gaps that accidents happen. Caregivers and doctors recommend medical alert systems primarily because the service could accomplish things that they could not. Usually, caregivers have other responsibilities and concerns?they also have a life, a family to attend to, and a job that demands their professional attention. That?s why giving all the obligations on the caregiver?s shoulders is essentially risking eventual neglect of the senior.

These days, medical alerts are advanced and efficient. Back during their early days in the 1970s, medical alerts were bulky, and it was hard for seniors to wear the devices. Worse, the early medical alerts were not waterproof, so they could not be worn in the bathroom. This was a crucial weakness: most accidents involving seniors occur in the bathroom?a slip on the tiled floor or the bath tub can be fatal when not immediately attended to.

Fortunately, like other in-demand and important technologies, medical alerts have evolved in terms of sophistication and efficiency. No longer are such devices bulky and a hassle to use. The medical alerts you?ll find being offered by different providers these days are built and designed for daily durability?they are waterproof and can be worn at all times, even when the wearer is in the bathroom. The medical alerts are also small, lightweight and designed compactly enough that it is easy for the wearer to be no longer self-conscious about it.

Using a medical alert system is so simple that even seniors who find trouble understanding technical instructions will be able to quickly use the system. Basically, there are no technical instructions?the senior only needs to "wear" the device (either as a bracelet or as a necklace pendant) and press the button whenever a need arises. Whether the seniors is plagued with?a heart attack, a dizziness spell?and they?re alone in the house with the caregiver miles away, they simply press that button and a professionally trained response center responder will speak to them from the loudspeaker of the system?s base unit. Other types of medical alerts can also be set to automatically call 911 or the nearest neighbor or medical facility whenever the device "detects" that the senior has an accident in the home?a slip on the floor, a fall, or some sudden inactivity that may indicate loss of consciousness.

A medical alert system can enable doctors or caregivers to have a better control of their loved one?s situation?the devices and the 24/7 monitoring associated with their use can easily fill in what the common caregiver could not do, which is remain with their aging loved one at all times. After all, a medical alert system, thanks to technological advances in manufacturing and wireless communication, is now very affordable, with a minimal monthly fee of around $20. For the breadth and scope of a medical alert system?s service, along with its other perks, we?d say that the monthly service fee is indeed a very small price to pay for ensuring the safety of a loved one.

Medical Alert Systems and Signs Your Aging Parents Need Help: What you Need to Know By Kristin Anne

Parents, to us, have always been the people who took care of us. When we were kids, they were unflappable, and there wasn?t a crisis (yours or theirs) they couldn?t handle. Now they?re getting older, and you can see their weaknesses start to show through. Our parents are human, and now that we?re visiting family for the holidays, we may notice that something?s different about mom or dad.

When you see signs of declining health in your parents?, that is when taking action will be the most effective. The best action is to find a method of preventing accidents before they happen in your aging parents? homes. This may mean looking into medical alert systems, nursing homes, retirement communities or in-home care. The discussion may be difficult, but is so much easier than dealing with the aftermath of an accident at home. So what is there to look for?

Changes in Health:
- You notice bruises on your loved one?s arms, legs, or face
- Your loved one has trouble balancing, sitting down, or standing up
- There is evidence of weight loss, or eating habits become less healthy. (Over eating, under eating, eating only candy, refusing to cook)

Changes in Attitude/ Behavior:
- Your once sweet and kind mother has snapped at you or another family member.
- Your parent seems disoriented, not as "sharp" as they once were, or slow to react.
- Your Parent has begun to slur their words in conversation.
- Your parent has received speeding tickets, and gotten into more accidents than is normal.

Changes in Routine:
- Hygenic habits such as brushing teeth, showering/bathing, and hand washing seem to have stopped (You smell odors in the home like urine, or body odor)
- Your mother who was once super-tidy has stopped cleaning, and clutter has started to build up in every corner of her home.
- Your father, who once took great pride in his appearance, has stopped combing his hair, ironing his clothes, etc.

So, now in this holiday season when we?re seeing our parents for the first time in months in some cases, pay attention to the subtle cues that perhaps your once young and strong parents may need your help.

Have the talk with your parents, if you suspect they need help, and discuss your concerns, and ideas for a solution. A medical alert system, home care, nursing facilities, and medical attention can all help, but the first step for those that think these solutions are necessary is to talk.

Integrating a Senior Medical Alert System with Exercises to Help Prevent Falls By Stefanie Jeanne

While the use of a senior medical alert can be instrumental in preventing accidental falls among seniors, there is nothing more effective in falls prevention that helping the senior stay as physically fit as possible. Contrary to what may seem obvious, seniors can actually have a fighting chance against the possibility of figuring in accidental falls. Preventing accidental falls is highly important, especially due to the fact that when it happens to an elderly person, the physical damage can be serious, lasting and, sometimes fatal. So engaging in certain exercises for the specific purpose of regaining your sense of mobility, agility and balance should not only be among your top priorities, but should also become a regular part of your daily schedule.

The following are just some of the simple exercises you can do on your own to protect yourself from accidental falls.

Leg exercises: strengthening your legs and hips is important in enabling you to maintain and control your own stability. This stability is vital, especially when you?re walking, leaning, or standing. Accidental falls occur when, for example, an elderly person stands on a chair to fix a light bulb, and that person momentarily loses their sense of stability.

To do a simple leg exercise, look for a good chair with a back rest that is about the same level as your elbows. With your feet at rest side by side and as you face the back of the chair, slowly lift one of your legs out to the side. Try to lift that leg as high up as possible without having to lean your torso in the opposite direction. Maintain for a few seconds, than slowly lower the leg down. Now do the same with the other leg. Repeat a dozen or more times for each leg.

Other important parts of your legs are those muscles you use for sitting and standing. By strengthening these muscle groups, you further ensure your own stability when you sit or stand. For this strengthening exercise, you should find any chair with arms. Place it in the middle of an open room?the living room would be good as long as it is not so cramped or there is enough leg room. Sit on the said chair, and make sure that both of your feet touch the floor evenly, which also means you should be using a chair with just the right height. As you sit on the chair, slowly try to stand up, using your arms (which should be using the chair?s arms for support) to push up and out of the chair. When you are fully standing up, slowly resume the sitting position in such a way that you are lowering your upper leg muscles onto the seat. Repeat a few more times or until failure.

Another leg muscle that you should work out are the quads, as they are responsible for maintaining your balance and stability while you are walking and in preventing your own legs from turning into rubber, so to speak. A good strengthening exercise for the quads is by the use of a chair. Sit on a chair with your legs naturally bent and your feet on the sides, the soles of your feet evenly planted on the floor as much as possible. Slowly lift your foot off the floor, then extend your leg by straightening it out in front of you and in such a way that the leg is parallel to the floor. Lower it back down then do the same with the other leg. Even better, try to point your toes forward during the peak of your extension so as to further work up the quads. Repeat as you feel necessary or until failure.

Strengthening the ankles: the experts from the American Council on Exercise assert that having a weak ankle is a major factor in increasing one?s risk of falling. The goal, therefore, is to never forget the role of the ankles in helping you maintain stability in standing and walking. The good thing is that, like other leg muscles, the ankles can be fully strengthened with some simple exercises. Get a towel that is sufficiently long to be wrapped around the bottom of your foot?the purpose of the towel is to provide something you can hold onto while you are seated. Tug on the towel to add some resistance as you make figure 8 patterns with your foot. Repeat the same with the other foot as often as necessary or until failure.

You can spend as little as 15 to 20 minutes in doing these exercises. Apart from using an actual senior medical alert to ensure that you?ll get instant medical assistance just in case an accident actually happens, engaging in these exercises daily is a truly great way to safeguard your own well-being.

Medical Alert: Enabling Seniors to Connect Instantly to Caregivers By Stefanie Jeanne

To fully appreciate the efficiency of a medical alert system in the context of complementing the work of caregivers, let us consider an actual real-world case. Madelyn is a subscriber to one of the leading medical alert system companies. She is 60, with narcolepsy, and lives alone at her own home in California. One day, she decides to change the light bulb in her kitchen. As there is no one else to do the job, and because it is supposedly a simple job of unscrewing the old bulb and replacing it with a new one, she gets up on the short ladder and begins removing the old bulb. At one point, however, the table slightly moves and Madelyn loses her balance and she ends up on the floor, writhing in pain, her hips probably shattered. The phone is on the other side of the house, and if not for the medical alert device she?s wearing around her neck, Madelyn?s situation could have been worse. She presses the panic button, contact is made with the medical alert system?s response center, and within minutes one of Madelyn?s registered responders (whose numbers she registered with her medical alert device) arrive to give her assistance as they waited for the ambulance?s arrival. And while Madelyn subsequently endures months of hospitalization (her age and the location of the bone fracture made her condition complicated), it is obvious that things could have been a lot worse if not for the timely response of the medical alert system?s monitoring center.

Now, the abovementioned story is not a fairytale?it is actually based on a case file from a medical alert system provider. The lesson here is simple: a medical alert system is designed to allow further flexibility for caregivers. In fact, it smoothly complements?and even extends?the duties of a caregiver in order to give the senior the best care possible.

Most medical alert systems can be programmed to register the numbers of the persons that you want to be notified first in the event of an emergency. Most people register the neighbors that they trust, while others register relatives, or their grown children if they happen to live nearby. While notifying next of kin or caregivers, the response center will also send the necessary medical help from the medical facility that is located nearest the patient?s address. The whole system is set up with emphasis on efficiency and speed: in a few minutes, barring other mishaps, able hands are arriving to help.

Seniors can connect much faster to caregivers in an emergency with a medical alert, thanks to the device?s single push-button action: there is nothing to confuse the senior wearing the device because there are no other options. You just press it. Also, the wearer does not have to worry about pressing the button by mistake when they don?t even need medical help, the response center understands that such harmless mistakes can occur and, after all, it is better to be mistaken than to be sorry about failing to respond quickly to a real issue. In fact, most medical alert companies want you to test the device periodically by pressing the button and making sure you are comfortable using the system.

The medical alert system?s design is so simple. That is why you will never find a medical alert system accompanied with pages and pages of how-to guides. The medical alert system itself is pretty much direct to the point: the package contains nothing but the wearable medical alert device and the base unit.

In the end, a medical alert system provides so many benefits and advantages to both the senior and the caregiver that there is hardly any argument against using it. To top it off, the monthly service fee is very reasonable, especially when one considers that the monitoring service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Indeed, ordering a medical alert is one of the best proactive decisions a caregiver can make to bring back quality to a senior?s life.

Medical Alert Systems and In Home Care Can Combat Rising Healthcare Costs By Kristin Palardy

A medical alert system can bring children of aging parents the peace of mind of knowing that their parents, who may live alone, can reach help if they experience a fall or other accident. The most common reason for purchasing a medical alert is wanting to make sure that an elderly loved one who is generally able to live independently is able to reach help when they need it. But can this tool for independent living also be a weapon in the fight against rising healthcare costs in the United States?

The population of the United States includes 39 million individuals over the age of 65 as of 2008, and by the year 2030, this number is expected to skyrocket to 72 million, as "Baby Boomers" reach the age of 65.

So, the aging population is growing. The individuals of the "baby boom" generation are reaching senior age, causing the senior population to increase dramatically. Not only that, but healthcare advances have allowed people to live longer; there are many more people reaching their 80?s, 90?s and even past 100. Those who reach these ages are, on average, suffering a large number of physical ailments and as a consequence, they consistently incur high medical expenses.

More seniors, fighting more physical ailments means a higher healthcare cost amongst our increasingly senior population. In fact, by the year 2030, health care for seniors is predicted to account for 25% of all the nation?s health care expenditures.

This is where a medical alert system can help. The price of equipment rental and monitoring can be less than $1 per day; a long hospital stay costs much more than that. The longer a senior waits to receive help after a fall, the more complications they will experience.

If a senior citizen falls, and is unable to summon help within the first hour, they are extremely likely to lose their independence, and most in this situation are ultimately placed in nursing homes.

With a medical alert system, an individual can get quick help, which often eliminates the need for a lengthy hospital stay, and prevents seniors from experiencing complications from their fall that land them permanently in a nursing home or care facility.

In conjunction with in-home care provided either by a professional service or a member of the senior?s family, a medical alert system can keep an elderly individual out of a hospital, out of a nursing home, and can extend the amount of time in which he or she can live at home safely.

The average cost of nursing homes can top an average pricetag of $83,585/year, or $229/day. A medical alert system rental and monthly monitoring service costs less than $1/day.

While the rapidly rising population of seniors in the United States as well as recent changes to Medicare almost certainly guarantee a drastic spike in healthcare costs, this increase can be slowed. Preventative measures are the key to lowering healthcare costs in the United States, as it decreases the amount of costly emergency care and the many expenditures that come when an individual is no longer able to live in their homes.

Medical Alert Systems and In Home Care Can Combat Rising Healthcare Costs By Kristin Palardy

A medical alert system can bring children of aging parents the peace of mind of knowing that their parents, who may live alone, can reach help if they experience a fall or other accident. The most common reason for purchasing a medical alert is wanting to make sure that an elderly loved one who is generally able to live independently is able to reach help when they need it. But can this tool for independent living also be a weapon in the fight against rising healthcare costs in the United States?

The population of the United States includes 39 million individuals over the age of 65 as of 2008, and by the year 2030, this number is expected to skyrocket to 72 million, as "Baby Boomers" reach the age of 65.

So, the aging population is growing. The individuals of the "baby boom" generation are reaching senior age, causing the senior population to increase dramatically. Not only that, but healthcare advances have allowed people to live longer; there are many more people reaching their 80?s, 90?s and even past 100. Those who reach these ages are, on average, suffering a large number of physical ailments and as a consequence, they consistently incur high medical expenses.

More seniors, fighting more physical ailments means a higher healthcare cost amongst our increasingly senior population. In fact, by the year 2030, health care for seniors is predicted to account for 25% of all the nation?s health care expenditures.

This is where a medical alert system can help. The price of equipment rental and monitoring can be less than $1 per day; a long hospital stay costs much more than that. The longer a senior waits to receive help after a fall, the more complications they will experience.

If a senior citizen falls, and is unable to summon help within the first hour, they are extremely likely to lose their independence, and most in this situation are ultimately placed in nursing homes.

With a medical alert system, an individual can get quick help, which often eliminates the need for a lengthy hospital stay, and prevents seniors from experiencing complications from their fall that land them permanently in a nursing home or care facility.

In conjunction with in-home care provided either by a professional service or a member of the senior?s family, a medical alert system can keep an elderly individual out of a hospital, out of a nursing home, and can extend the amount of time in which he or she can live at home safely.

The average cost of nursing homes can top an average pricetag of $83,585/year, or $229/day. A medical alert system rental and monthly monitoring service costs less than $1/day.

While the rapidly rising population of seniors in the United States as well as recent changes to Medicare almost certainly guarantee a drastic spike in healthcare costs, this increase can be slowed. Preventative measures are the key to lowering healthcare costs in the United States, as it decreases the amount of costly emergency care and the many expenditures that come when an individual is no longer able to live in their homes.

Why Caregivers and Doctors Recommend Medical Alert Systems By Stefanie Jeanne

Doctors know the importance of having round-the-clock medical monitoring, especially for high-risk patients. Any serious medical emergency could occur anytime, and because doctors have no accurate way of predicting when it would happen, the only logical way to manage it is by conducting 24-hour monitoring of the patient. However, such kind of monitoring is not particularly cost-effective, especially for patients or seniors who are still able to get around.

Caregivers, on the other hand, could only do so much. Such as attending to the ache and pains of the senior, helping them with bathing, and assisting them with their daily activities, but their attention is limited. Unless we?re speaking of multiple caregivers who alternate shifts in 24-hour periods, caregivers would go home at the end of the day, leaving the senior on their own.

Obviously, there is a gap in attention, and unfortunately, it is through those gaps that accidents happen. Caregivers and doctors recommend medical alert systems primarily because the service could accomplish things that they could not. Usually, caregivers have other responsibilities and concerns?they also have a life, a family to attend to, and a job that demands their professional attention. That?s why giving all the obligations on the caregiver?s shoulders is essentially risking eventual neglect of the senior.

These days, medical alerts are advanced and efficient. Back during their early days in the 1970s, medical alerts were bulky, and it was hard for seniors to wear the devices. Worse, the early medical alerts were not waterproof, so they could not be worn in the bathroom. This was a crucial weakness: most accidents involving seniors occur in the bathroom?a slip on the tiled floor or the bath tub can be fatal when not immediately attended to.

Fortunately, like other in-demand and important technologies, medical alerts have evolved in terms of sophistication and efficiency. No longer are such devices bulky and a hassle to use. The medical alerts you?ll find being offered by different providers these days are built and designed for daily durability?they are waterproof and can be worn at all times, even when the wearer is in the bathroom. The medical alerts are also small, lightweight and designed compactly enough that it is easy for the wearer to be no longer self-conscious about it.

Using a medical alert system is so simple that even seniors who find trouble understanding technical instructions will be able to quickly use the system. Basically, there are no technical instructions?the senior only needs to "wear" the device (either as a bracelet or as a necklace pendant) and press the button whenever a need arises. Whether the seniors is plagued with?a heart attack, a dizziness spell?and they?re alone in the house with the caregiver miles away, they simply press that button and a professionally trained response center responder will speak to them from the loudspeaker of the system?s base unit. Other types of medical alerts can also be set to automatically call 911 or the nearest neighbor or medical facility whenever the device "detects" that the senior has an accident in the home?a slip on the floor, a fall, or some sudden inactivity that may indicate loss of consciousness.

A medical alert system can enable doctors or caregivers to have a better control of their loved one?s situation?the devices and the 24/7 monitoring associated with their use can easily fill in what the common caregiver could not do, which is remain with their aging loved one at all times. After all, a medical alert system, thanks to technological advances in manufacturing and wireless communication, is now very affordable, with a minimal monthly fee of around $20. For the breadth and scope of a medical alert system?s service, along with its other perks, we?d say that the monthly service fee is indeed a very small price to pay for ensuring the safety of a loved one.

Integrating a Senior Medical Alert System with Exercises to Help Prevent Falls By Stefanie Jeanne

While the use of a senior medical alert can be instrumental in preventing accidental falls among seniors, there is nothing more effective in falls prevention that helping the senior stay as physically fit as possible. Contrary to what may seem obvious, seniors can actually have a fighting chance against the possibility of figuring in accidental falls. Preventing accidental falls is highly important, especially due to the fact that when it happens to an elderly person, the physical damage can be serious, lasting and, sometimes fatal. So engaging in certain exercises for the specific purpose of regaining your sense of mobility, agility and balance should not only be among your top priorities, but should also become a regular part of your daily schedule.

The following are just some of the simple exercises you can do on your own to protect yourself from accidental falls.

Leg exercises: strengthening your legs and hips is important in enabling you to maintain and control your own stability. This stability is vital, especially when you?re walking, leaning, or standing. Accidental falls occur when, for example, an elderly person stands on a chair to fix a light bulb, and that person momentarily loses their sense of stability.

To do a simple leg exercise, look for a good chair with a back rest that is about the same level as your elbows. With your feet at rest side by side and as you face the back of the chair, slowly lift one of your legs out to the side. Try to lift that leg as high up as possible without having to lean your torso in the opposite direction. Maintain for a few seconds, than slowly lower the leg down. Now do the same with the other leg. Repeat a dozen or more times for each leg.

Other important parts of your legs are those muscles you use for sitting and standing. By strengthening these muscle groups, you further ensure your own stability when you sit or stand. For this strengthening exercise, you should find any chair with arms. Place it in the middle of an open room?the living room would be good as long as it is not so cramped or there is enough leg room. Sit on the said chair, and make sure that both of your feet touch the floor evenly, which also means you should be using a chair with just the right height. As you sit on the chair, slowly try to stand up, using your arms (which should be using the chair?s arms for support) to push up and out of the chair. When you are fully standing up, slowly resume the sitting position in such a way that you are lowering your upper leg muscles onto the seat. Repeat a few more times or until failure.

Another leg muscle that you should work out are the quads, as they are responsible for maintaining your balance and stability while you are walking and in preventing your own legs from turning into rubber, so to speak. A good strengthening exercise for the quads is by the use of a chair. Sit on a chair with your legs naturally bent and your feet on the sides, the soles of your feet evenly planted on the floor as much as possible. Slowly lift your foot off the floor, then extend your leg by straightening it out in front of you and in such a way that the leg is parallel to the floor. Lower it back down then do the same with the other leg. Even better, try to point your toes forward during the peak of your extension so as to further work up the quads. Repeat as you feel necessary or until failure.

Strengthening the ankles: the experts from the American Council on Exercise assert that having a weak ankle is a major factor in increasing one?s risk of falling. The goal, therefore, is to never forget the role of the ankles in helping you maintain stability in standing and walking. The good thing is that, like other leg muscles, the ankles can be fully strengthened with some simple exercises. Get a towel that is sufficiently long to be wrapped around the bottom of your foot?the purpose of the towel is to provide something you can hold onto while you are seated. Tug on the towel to add some resistance as you make figure 8 patterns with your foot. Repeat the same with the other foot as often as necessary or until failure.

You can spend as little as 15 to 20 minutes in doing these exercises. Apart from using an actual senior medical alert to ensure that you?ll get instant medical assistance just in case an accident actually happens, engaging in these exercises daily is a truly great way to safeguard your own well-being.

Medical Alert Systems and Signs Your Aging Parents Need Help: What you Need to Know By Kristin Anne

Parents, to us, have always been the people who took care of us. When we were kids, they were unflappable, and there wasn?t a crisis (yours or theirs) they couldn?t handle. Now they?re getting older, and you can see their weaknesses start to show through. Our parents are human, and now that we?re visiting family for the holidays, we may notice that something?s different about mom or dad.

When you see signs of declining health in your parents?, that is when taking action will be the most effective. The best action is to find a method of preventing accidents before they happen in your aging parents? homes. This may mean looking into medical alert systems, nursing homes, retirement communities or in-home care. The discussion may be difficult, but is so much easier than dealing with the aftermath of an accident at home. So what is there to look for?

Changes in Health:
- You notice bruises on your loved one?s arms, legs, or face
- Your loved one has trouble balancing, sitting down, or standing up
- There is evidence of weight loss, or eating habits become less healthy. (Over eating, under eating, eating only candy, refusing to cook)

Changes in Attitude/ Behavior:
- Your once sweet and kind mother has snapped at you or another family member.
- Your parent seems disoriented, not as "sharp" as they once were, or slow to react.
- Your Parent has begun to slur their words in conversation.
- Your parent has received speeding tickets, and gotten into more accidents than is normal.

Changes in Routine:
- Hygenic habits such as brushing teeth, showering/bathing, and hand washing seem to have stopped (You smell odors in the home like urine, or body odor)
- Your mother who was once super-tidy has stopped cleaning, and clutter has started to build up in every corner of her home.
- Your father, who once took great pride in his appearance, has stopped combing his hair, ironing his clothes, etc.

So, now in this holiday season when we?re seeing our parents for the first time in months in some cases, pay attention to the subtle cues that perhaps your once young and strong parents may need your help.

Have the talk with your parents, if you suspect they need help, and discuss your concerns, and ideas for a solution. A medical alert system, home care, nursing facilities, and medical attention can all help, but the first step for those that think these solutions are necessary is to talk.

Medical Alert: Enabling Seniors to Connect Instantly to Caregivers By Stefanie Jeanne

To fully appreciate the efficiency of a medical alert system in the context of complementing the work of caregivers, let us consider an actual real-world case. Madelyn is a subscriber to one of the leading medical alert system companies. She is 60, with narcolepsy, and lives alone at her own home in California. One day, she decides to change the light bulb in her kitchen. As there is no one else to do the job, and because it is supposedly a simple job of unscrewing the old bulb and replacing it with a new one, she gets up on the short ladder and begins removing the old bulb. At one point, however, the table slightly moves and Madelyn loses her balance and she ends up on the floor, writhing in pain, her hips probably shattered. The phone is on the other side of the house, and if not for the medical alert device she?s wearing around her neck, Madelyn?s situation could have been worse. She presses the panic button, contact is made with the medical alert system?s response center, and within minutes one of Madelyn?s registered responders (whose numbers she registered with her medical alert device) arrive to give her assistance as they waited for the ambulance?s arrival. And while Madelyn subsequently endures months of hospitalization (her age and the location of the bone fracture made her condition complicated), it is obvious that things could have been a lot worse if not for the timely response of the medical alert system?s monitoring center.

Now, the abovementioned story is not a fairytale?it is actually based on a case file from a medical alert system provider. The lesson here is simple: a medical alert system is designed to allow further flexibility for caregivers. In fact, it smoothly complements?and even extends?the duties of a caregiver in order to give the senior the best care possible.

Most medical alert systems can be programmed to register the numbers of the persons that you want to be notified first in the event of an emergency. Most people register the neighbors that they trust, while others register relatives, or their grown children if they happen to live nearby. While notifying next of kin or caregivers, the response center will also send the necessary medical help from the medical facility that is located nearest the patient?s address. The whole system is set up with emphasis on efficiency and speed: in a few minutes, barring other mishaps, able hands are arriving to help.

Seniors can connect much faster to caregivers in an emergency with a medical alert, thanks to the device?s single push-button action: there is nothing to confuse the senior wearing the device because there are no other options. You just press it. Also, the wearer does not have to worry about pressing the button by mistake when they don?t even need medical help, the response center understands that such harmless mistakes can occur and, after all, it is better to be mistaken than to be sorry about failing to respond quickly to a real issue. In fact, most medical alert companies want you to test the device periodically by pressing the button and making sure you are comfortable using the system.

The medical alert system?s design is so simple. That is why you will never find a medical alert system accompanied with pages and pages of how-to guides. The medical alert system itself is pretty much direct to the point: the package contains nothing but the wearable medical alert device and the base unit.

In the end, a medical alert system provides so many benefits and advantages to both the senior and the caregiver that there is hardly any argument against using it. To top it off, the monthly service fee is very reasonable, especially when one considers that the monitoring service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Indeed, ordering a medical alert is one of the best proactive decisions a caregiver can make to bring back quality to a senior?s life.