About Medical Alert & Home Safety Sytems

This area of assistance focuses on the use of devices that warn of problems with homebound people who are often without caregivers for certain periods of the day.

Home medical alert and homewatch systems can protect seniors living alone by sending an alarm or triggering a panic button when the elderly person falls or has a medical emergency. Systems also can monitor through video cameras or through GPS tracking devices to locate a senior who may need closer supervision.

Home medical alert systems consist of a medical alarm pendant, medical alarm console (also called medical alert base unit), and monitoring center. The alarm pendant is worn around the neck, on wrist, or even on the belt and features a transmitter. On pressing the help button of the transmitter, the signal transmits to the console, which in turn passes through the telephone line. The signal then reaches the person at the medical monitoring center or a neighbor, depending on how the system is set up.