Home sensors for seniors?

[pasusan]

I'm looking for information on remotely monitoring my MIL. She is in her 80s and lives alone 350 miles from us. She is in very good health, but we're afraid she might fall or something and nobody will know while she suffers. We do have a neighbor who watches that she brings in her paper every day, but that isn't especially timely and sometimes they travel.

We saw an ad for a thing that has sensors around the house - like if you open the fridge door or something - and then you check it out with an app on your remote smart phone. It's called Silver Mother - here is a link.

Anyone know anything about this or something similar?

[garmp]

bump,
we stayed with them. Had little choice. The only advantage was that my Mother wanted to do her own grocery shopping and went with her baby sister (87 yo) and another lady from church. The outings did her good and the pendant was GPS sensitive, so we did have some feeling of security there. When she was at home, refused to live with anyone, we kept as much surveillance as we could with the help of family, neighbors and friends. Things did come to the point where her living alone was no longer an option, and me as the older of two sons, played the villain.

[KLO]

For Christmas my niece bought me a FLIR fx camera which is a wireless HD video monitoring camera. You do have to have internet but with this camera you can be hundreds of miles away and monitor your home,with your smart phone, or in your case your mother. I only have the one unit but there are setups with multiples you can put around the house.One nice feature is you can also hear and talk to them, a little time lapse but not bad. Niece has the multiple setup and was even able to see the people breaking in to their home one time, they were a long way away when that happened. She got it at Best Buy, go in and talk to them about what you need. Mine is for me to keep an eye on my disabled husband when I'm in the yard or at my sisters home having coffee, walking distance away.
If you have any more questions you can pm me and I will be glad to help, If I can, LOL!

[Bumpyroad]

garmp1 wrote:
We went thru that with my mother. Most of those "Alert" companies are owner by the same outfit. And none are worth it in our opinion. My mother, 92, was very active so we got one with the GPS and all the bells & whistles. Constantly giving erroneous signals, false alerts and too much mis-information. EMT's would show up at her door for no reason.
Agreed that they are a necessary evil, but stay on them and ***** (sorry) and complain as often as it takes for them to get the info correct. And watch your bill. We had too many "oops".
Obviously, we weren't happy with our choice. Best of luck to you.

so what was your choice?
bumpy

[garmp]

We went thru that with my mother. Most of those "Alert" companies are owner by the same outfit. And none are worth it in our opinion. My mother, 92, was very active so we got one with the GPS and all the bells & whistles. Constantly giving erroneous signals, false alerts and too much mis-information. EMT's would show up at her door for no reason.
Agreed that they are a necessary evil, but stay on them and ***** (sorry) and complain as often as it takes for them to get the info correct. And watch your bill. We had too many "oops".
Obviously, we weren't happy with our choice. Best of luck to you.

[pasusan]

Thanks for the replies and helpfulness folks! She does get out a lot and has friends stop in - but that's not foolproof. And she does have a nice walk in shower with slip resistant floor and a grab bar.

One thing that happened a few weeks ago - she didn't hang up her phone correctly and we couldn't get through to her for one evening. When the phone was still busy the next morning we called a neighbor, who wasn't home, then a relative that had to drive 40 minutes to find out her phone was off the hook. Of course we were imagining that she had fallen, dragged herself to the phone, pulled it to the floor and passed out.

The good thing is I think we've found a solution - will have to check more into it. There is an app called Presence that turns an old iPhone or iPad into a motion sensor that will then email you. It can be used for all sorts of things - like a video camera to catch unwanted visitors or even to monitor your house while away. She has an old iPad that I think we'll set up in a room that she walks through a lot and the app will notify us that she's been through there and we will know she's OK.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

I sadly noticed that I am not only disabled but prone to falling. This is a tough one for me. So this is what I did:

I purchased a disposable inexpensive basic cellular phone PLUS a pair of reading glasses. The phone and glasses are covered loosely by a towel. The phone is charging all the time. Deciding where to put it led me to an outlet just outside the bathroom. The phone is ON THE FLOOR. Of course it's not guaranteed fool proof, but an auto LED night light seems to make reaching the cellular easier. I entered a list of speed dial numbers and taped 9-11 card in big letters next to the outlet. People who fall often suffer concusions and cannot remember their own name, never mind address.

AND plan ahead. Install whatever it takes to allow a person, a stepped grip bar "pull-up" device that allows her to pull herself first to her knees, then she can PUSH herself more upright. Is the bathroom floor slip-resistant? Have stainless grab bars to help with the potty and enter/exit the shower or tub.

I HATE THE IDEA OF NEEDING TO BE "EXPERIENCED" WITH THIS STUFF 😞

[Bumpyroad]

robsouth wrote:
If you have a "device" or "phone" to call 911, how do they gain entrance once they arrive with no one to let them in?

I gave a door key to a neighbor and to the police dept. and they can always break a small window, etc. there are several emergency hang around your neck jobbies currently being advertised.
bumpy

[K_Charles]

I feel sorry for shutting and the elderly that live alone and have no one to stop and visit. The church, class mates or neighbors should be stopping.
When we are home I see a few shutting. My mom lives alone and not only has company every day but see, in her late 80s still gets out to "see the old folks" as she puts it.

[pasusan]

path1 wrote:
Did you notice?

Range...Up to 100 ft indoor

My Mom's (can't remember the name of the gadget) wouldn't work as advertised.

We finally ended up with a phone that she carried in a case around her neck. So she could call 911 herself or talk with friends.

Everybody's different and some things are a hard decisions. We found the phone option best for our situation. Yes, (painfully slow) learning curve if she hasn't been exposed to a med app or receiving medical report as text message.

But hay, thanks for thinking about MOM. You only get one.

The range thing is for the distance between the hub and the sensors. The hub sends the information to the internet and can then be viewed remotely by smartphone or computer.

robsouth wrote:
If you have a "device" or "phone" to call 911, how do they gain entrance once they arrive with no one to let them in?

There are other neighbors and relatives we could call - but if we did call 911 we know the garage code to get them in.



Thanks for the replies!

[robsouth]

If you have a "device" or "phone" to call 911, how do they gain entrance once they arrive with no one to let them in?

[path1]

Did you notice?

Range...Up to 100 ft indoor

My Mom's (can't remember the name of the gadget) wouldn't work as advertised.

We finally ended up with a phone that she carried in a case around her neck. So she could call 911 herself or talk with friends.

Everybody's different and some things are a hard decisions. We found the phone option best for our situation. Yes, (painfully slow) learning curve if she hasn't been exposed to a med app or receiving medical report as text message.

But hay, thanks for thinking about MOM. You only get one.