Staying safe at home with Epilepsy/Falls

[User18394111]

How do people manage things for elderly parents who live alone and are at risk of falls or epileptic fits? The epilepsy is a relatively new diagnosis.
I’m thinking of an Apple Watch because of the falls detection feature and maybe a couple of google home devices with voice calling set up.

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My DM has a wrist alarm from Taking Care. They also have a box they can talk to her with and detect if she's not been moving about, it has worked brilliantly and she really likes talking to them.

She also has a keysafe and her neighbour has a key.

She's also had probably hundreds of falls by now. Early on she broke her collar bone but she has since been treated for osteoporosis.

They key thing for me was having to accept that she is an adult who can make her own assessment of risks, much as I wished she would make very different choices.

My mother has an apple watch with falls detection - it has worked and alerted family and, on one occasion, 999 when she fell in the night and no family responded. However, she wasn't wearing it when she last fell as it was charging. If you go down this route, I think you really need 2 - one on wrist and one charging. One of the paramedics who responded after her last fall suggested installing something like Echo Show as it also allows drop in video calls which we are considering.

Care on Call watch will notify office if the wearer falls. Speaker in the home will talk to the person if they are in the same room. If necessary, Care on Call will visit to check. I think my mum pays £27 per month for wrist band and pendant.

Mum has a pendant alarm with Falls Detector from Taking Care - it's the slightly more expensive version where they can talk to her and she can talk to them via the pendant alarm itself rather than just the main control box in the house.
Elderly GPS Tracker with Automatic Fall Detection | TakingCare

You need a keysafe and ideally several contacts close by that can check on her if the alarm is triggered - if they get no response and there is no one to check on them they can call an ambulance. .

We've had several false alarms from it where mum or carers have accidentally dropped the pendant when getting washed or dressed, so it does work, although they can't guarantee that it will get triggered automatically if it's a gradual fall such as sliding off a chair (although if the wearer is conscious they can activate the alarm themselves)....

My mum has also had false alarms - interestingly the monitor had learnt she didn't move her arm much, after shoulder surgery it went off all the time as her movement had improved so much.

It will also alarm if she hasn't gone in the kitchen at her normal time and if the house is too cold.

My dad developed epilepsy last year at 92.
He has a falls alarm on his wrist and had a bed alarm but that kept going off in error.
The best thing we have is cameras is the hallways up and downstairs, in the living room, dining area and kitchen

I check he's up and going about every morning and 2 or 3 times over the day. Gives me reassurance. He's 2.5 hours away so I can't get there quickly.