Recommendations for a fall alarm for an elderly parent

[Gladtimeslady]

I'm looking for advice about a fall alarm for my mother.

She is 96 and lives on her own. She has dementia in the sense that her short term memory is nonexistent, but she is still reasonably ok physically - gets herself washed, dressed, to the loo, etc. She has carers in every day to give her meals and a shower, a lovely woman she has known for years comes in several times a week to clean, do laundry and ironing and just chat to her, and my brother and his wife who live 12 minutes drive away also see her several times a week and do all her shopping and household management. I live 4 hours away but I go to stay with her for 4 or 5 days every month.

She is happy with her life and adamant that she does not want to go into a home. And for the time being we think she is safe enough to remain in her own house. She has had only a couple of falls in the last 5 years, none serious. But she needs a fall alarm.

She currently wears a Buddi wristband. The company have written to say they will be discontinuing this service in December. Can anyone recommend a good alternative please?

It needs to alert my brother/ emergency services if she falls, and be easy to use.

Check out what service her local authority provides. Some provide a visiting service.

My dad has one through a company called ostara which his local authority uses. He's never fallen but we did have a bed one as he developed seizures but it was far too sensitive so he had a couple of nights with strangers in the bedroom. I also have cameras in the house in the main living areas which means I can do a quick check. My dad's 94 and I live 2.5 hours away and my brother 5-6 hours away so the falls team would have to come in if he fell or was unwell.

We also got one for my DF from our LA adult care department.

They came and set it all up for him, and let him have it on a trial basis for two months before committing to it. It’s £19 per month but there are some exemptions available

Another vote for speaking to Local Authority Adult/Elderly Care - or Google the local council name and care alarm.

My MIL had an alarm on a wrist band,kind of like a watch and if pressed, it triggered someone to call the landline, if she didn't answer they would then ring a nominated family member. It was also connected to the fire alarm which was handy when she kept setting the cooker/toaster/microwave on fire 🙄 until we eventually flipped all the circuits off.

From memory it cost something like £30 per month that was easily covered by her Attendance Allowance.

DF's local council provide them at nominal cost but I think this is rare. Aunt pays the equivalent of a mobile contract for hers and late DH's would have been the same.

There was no availability on the Local Authority scheme when I had to arrange something for my mum, so I went with this from Taking Care.

Elderly GPS Tracker with Automatic Fall Detection | Taking Care

You can press the button to raise the alram with the call centre, or it will detect a fall. The call centre speaks to the wearer through the pendant and depending on the probelm they can call named contacts or the emergency services.

You'll need a keysafe fitted if you don't already have one.

Ime the local authority run schemes are the best as they have enough users to staff the scheme properly and have equipment locally

Thank you to everyone for your comments and suggestions. Much appreciated. I will do some research.

The local services being offered would be the best as they would help them more efficiently.

My mum uses your stride, £19.99 per month works ok you can add as many people as you like to the alert system, my mum lives in Cornwall and I’m in London so she has neighbours as main alerts.
the only drawback we’ve found so far is that it can be a bit sensitive and may detect falls that aren’t falls but you just hit the face and it turns off