"I want to stay at home!"

That's what most of us want, isn't it? It's sometimes called "aging in place'. Basically, we want to stay in our homes as long as possible.

That's what my mom wanted, no question. She wanted to stay there, period. End of discussion. Of course, we did everything we could to keep her both comfortable and safe. We made all the adaptive changes that we could, took all the precautions that we could think of and tried to make things easier for her as time progressed.

One of the most important things that we did was to provide my mother with a pendant with a button to press and summon help when she fell, which, unfortunately, she did several times. God bless the person that invented that device!

People are funny. Mom was absolutely convinced that she had to pull that pendant up to her mouth to talk to the operator, like a microphone, and I couldn't change her mind.  Of course, it wasn't a microphone and she could only talk to the operator if she was inside the house and close enough to the base station plugged into the telephone to talk to the Operator. If she was too far away, the Operator couldn't hear her.  Kind of strange because, when I was young, I could hear her half a mile away, no problem.

Well, that was then. Now, with modern technology, there are better and safer solutions that can improve the quality of life for people like my mother, people who not only wish to stay at home but also want to be free to go outside and poke around in their flower gardens.  Mom even had an old- fashioned porch swing outside, that she liked to snooze in on a summer day.

The latest generation of the old familiar pendant has both a microphone and a built-in speaker.  It is a two-way communication device that you can use anywhere in the house or even outside. You will talk directly to the emergency operator, simply by pushing the button once.

Technological advances are bringing many exciting new options to "aging in place".  Mom would have loved this one.

No matter what type of device you use, it is important to test it occasionally and to know its' limitations. If you are an active person, look for a device that meets your needs.

Mark

General Manager at Protection Professionals