Help - need advice quickly, not sure what to do .

[SirVixofVixHall]

I have an elderly aunt, 73, who lives alone. In good health but very bad knees that limit her mobility a lot. She is very old fashioned, but she does use an ipad and facebook messenger, although she doesn’t often message me and her messages are usually quite brief. We chat on the telephone every few weeks.
I was out walking the dog but came home and there is a message from her, sent at 9.20pm, just saying this.
Stock k
again
That is all it says, i saw it about half an hour ago, assumed she has mis typed, and replied asking if all was ok and telling her I would call in the morning. But it suddenly occurred to me, what if she means “stuck” ? That she could have fallen. I live a long way from her, two and a half hour drive. If I call her she won’t answer as she is probably in bed, so it will really frighten her. The telephone is downstairs. She has a mobile that she rarely uses and I don’t know the number. I think that she has a button alarm thing, but I am not certain. She has a man locally who helps her with her shopping etc, and she would probably try to get him in an emergency.
What to do ?

The police were really great. I am glad I called them even though it was a false alarm, as she could easily have been on the floor.
She has had social services round today apparently, as she has been sleeping in a chair in her kitchen. I am going to talk to her properly over the weekend. She has no local relatives at all, and no close friends, only the taxi driver. She has a cousin who is about as far away as me, and his son. She lived a very quiet and private life with my uncle, and they married at about forty and didn’t have children. She is an only child so no siblings. It is a worry. She is a very kind person, but not used to much social contact. We normally drive over every few months to visit but with Covid we haven’t seen her since early this year.

@Yaottie

If you don't hear back you could call her local police force to see if they will do a welfare check on her

I would do that if no response from the guy who helps her.

Oh I'm glad to see your update.

I would get the alarm wristband there is a small fee. My grandad has one, he must of pressed it once they couldn’t get him though the intercom so they rang my mum to see if he needed a ambulance or not

It's good that social services are now involved. My mum had a stint in hospital after a fall/urinary tract infection over 18mths ago, and she was beyond herself it was the beginning of a road to a care home. But after a home assessment she's had handrails fitted outside the front/back door, an additional handrail fitted to the staircase, bathroom handrails, sitting stool for the kitchen, toilet seat (under toilet with hand raise grips), kitchen gadgets which open tins/jars, pendant alarm, pick up gripper for items that fall on the floor. It's been a game changer for her quite honestly.

I’m so glad you got it resolved. I fell asleep last night but it was the first thing I thought of when I woke up. The alarm would definitely be a step forward, I think. Good luck.

The last months of isolation have been extremely difficult for older people, on top of the usual health issues etc.

Glad to hear the outcome this morning and it sounds like a plan needs to be in place for the future. But she’ll be happy that you checked and sleeping in her kitchen is not a good sign that she’s managing as I’m guessing washing facilities plus possibly toilet are upstairs also

She has a bathroom upstairs, but does have a downstairs loo. From what she said last night, social services have been round and checked, and brought her a bed down into her dining room, plus other things to make it easier for her to manage. The main issue though is that she has been waiting years for surgery and still no date in sight. She has dermatitis on her knees and they won’t put her forward for surgery until that is sorted, and yet she has been waiting to see a dermatologist for at least 18 months. I told her I would pay for a private appointment, I have offered to talk to her GP, but she thinks they will be cross with her if I call them and try and speed things up, and she won’t let me pay for her to see someone.

i am going to call her today . I want to see her but with covid it hasn’t been possible, as I am at increased risk, so we can’t stop anywhere to use a loo on the journey, and she is at risk too, so we can’t go into her house. V stressful.
The support and advice on the thread last night was so helpful, I am really glad I called the police even though it was a false alarm, and they were absolutely lovely about it.