Tell me about your experiences with personal alarms

[Trifle66]

My DP's are both in their 80s. My DF has the first stages of dementia and my DM is very frail and sick. I want to get them both personal alarms. I live 20mins away. They only have 1 neighbour. They are both very deaf without their hearing aids. If one fell in the night the other would not know. Plus I doubt they would hear the base unit either.
I've been told that the wrist version can be too sensitive and trigger the fall alarm unnecessarily. However I'm not sure if my father will remember to wear the necklace. They have a care package starting. So the carers could check he was wearing it. However due to staff shortages we have no idea when that will start. Thank you.

They are great as a back up.

If there's an issue with remembering to wear them the carers will assist with prompts to put them on (once they start!)

If you are thinking of it arrange it through the local authority as it will be far far cheaper / free than arranging it privately. Depending on the range of options your local authority offers the pendant/wrist alarms can also be linked into the same system as things like e.g. vibrating or flashing fire/smoke alarms, medication dispensers etc.

Ask the social workers who assessed & set up their care - if you don't know who- ring the general adult social care line for their area. Many LAs have telecare (technology such as pendant alarm, wrist alarm , sensors etc) they either arrange or recommend as part of assessment . Some LAs fund telecare as part of their general care offer for those with eligible needs (under the care act 2014)

My mum has a fall alarm - it's a fabulous bit of kit. But yes, the bracelet is very sensitive & easily activates a call. But the people on the other end are superb & understanding when this happens, just explain it was an accidental activation & they'll close the call down. Hope this helps

Get a decent one like Telecare. DMIL had a cheap one that SIL bought from somewhere. Needless to say it caused all sorts of problems. There are no short cuts when it comes to your LO's safety.

In addition to the above you can get pressure mats that alert if someone, for example, falls out of bed, which could be useful - and you could use them to alert you to when someone entered a specific room, for example, or went near the top of the stairs at night.

Have you thought about cameras in the house. My in-laws have these and we can check on them during the day to see they are still upright.
Carers will check if they have the alarms on. But appreciate you don't know when they will start.
Alarms are useful although may not hear the base but then you would be called and could check on them.

We use the nest system.

Never worked for my Mum with her dementia, and the time she fell over and my dad couldn't pick her up, he phoned for help rather than use the alarm.

They have to really understand and be signed up to the idea of using them or you have a false sense of security. Pressure mats and cameras are a much better approach

We found that our relative would wear the pendant but not press the button on it for help if they fell in the night as they didnt want the alarm people to call us out! I also think they struggled with accepting how frail they really were. After finding out they had spent nights on the floor on several.occasions we managed to get the number of care visits increased, but it was the start of a slippery slope and they eventually needed to go into a nursing home as they were falling very regularly.