Whether it’s a medical emergency or some other type of emergency, early intervention saves lives. Allergic reactions, strokes, falls, heart attacks, and other emergencies have the potential to be life-threatening, and rapid response increases the chance of survival for many conditions. Medical alert systems are critical for making sure help arrives fast when emergencies do occur, and sometimes this means the difference between life and death.
Fast Response After Stroke Saved Sally
Strokes hit fast, and often without much warning. And in many cases, even the warning signs get ignored. With strokes, receiving aggressive treatment fast matters, and no one knows that better than Sally Boehm. At age 74, Sally lived alone and did pretty well on her own, but her family still worried about her living alone after her husband passed away. They invested in a medical alert system with the hope that she’d never need to use it. But one day she did press that button.
Sally had a stroke early one morning and collapsed to the floor of her bedroom. She was able to get her fingers to that alert button and call for help. Medics were sent to the scene immediately, she got to a hospital fast, and she was treated by doctors within the window when strokes can be treated aggressively in order to counter the effects that come with the interruption of blood flow to the brain. After a couple of days in the hospital, Sally got to go home – she fully recovered from the stroke.
“I’m so grateful I got a second chance at life,” Sally said. “I never really loved the thought that my family didn’t think I was okay on my own, and then my alert button saved my life. I’m back living on my own, and I always wear that button. I know that if anything ever happens, they’ve got my back.”
A Potentially Fatal Fall for Mark
Aging adults have a higher risk of falling, and those falls have the potential to be life-threatening. The CDC reports that the top cause of injury-related deaths among seniors is accidental falls, and Mark knows about that personally.
Mark, who’s 77 years old, and his wife, Sherry, age 73, lived together on their own in a rambling, old, two-story house they’d bought back in 1970 when the kids were young. It was paid for, and they didn’t want to live the home they’d worked so hard to pay off, despite Mark beginning to have difficulty with his balance.
Sherry worried about Mark being unsteady, especially going up and down the steep stairs. She convinced Mark that they should invest in a medical alert system in case something ever happened to one of them. One day, her worst fears came true when she heard a crash while she was in the kitchen. Mark had fallen down multiple steps to the bottom landing, and her heart nearly stopped when she saw him there at the bottom of the stairs, not moving and surrounded in a growing pool of blood.
“The one thing that kept me from panicking,” Sherry said, “was knowing I could get him help with the push of a button. I don’t know if I even had the presence of mind to make a phone call right then, but I was able to push the alert system button. While it seemed like forever to me, help arrived in minutes. Mark was bleeding so badly and he’d broken multiple bones, and it was so scary. I was relieved when those first responders arrived. I called them angels that day.”
Both Mark and Sherry know that having that alert system likely saved Mark’s life that day. They got the help they needed fast. It was a slow recovery for Mark, but these days, they live in an active senior community – one without stairs – but they still have that medical alert system in place in case they need it.
Frank Avoids a Fire Fatality
“As I’ve been getting up there in years, I’ve thought about when it would be my time to go,” Frank said, “but I never thought that I’d come so close to losing my life to a fire.” No one likes to think about being caught in a fire, especially those who have difficulty with mobility.
Frank, who’s 75 years old and lives alone with visiting caregivers that come in daily to help him out, faces some mobility issues. He can walk with the assistance of a cane, and on bad days he has to use a walker. Arthritis and injuries from the past have made it more difficult for him to navigate his home, but during the day he has someone around to help.
One night, Frank was in bed when he thought he smelled smoke. His smoke alarm never went off (a reminder to always check your smoke alarm batteries). He struggled to get out of bed to see why he smelled smoke. When he opened the bedroom door, smoke already was filling the hallway. A fire had started out in his living room.
“I had no idea how I was going to make it out of that house on my own with my walker,” Frank remembers. “But I had that medical alert button around my neck, and boy did I push that fast. I don’t think I’ve ever been that scared in my 75 years.”
In no time, firefighters arrived on the scene, got Frank out of the house, and put out the fire. While his home suffered severe damage, Frank feels pretty thankful that he made it out alive, thanks to one small alert button and some brave firefighters.
