Personal Emergency Response Systems Promote Independent Living

A Huge Wave of Senior’s

Personal emergency response systems help people stay in their own homes longer. Canada is coming into the largest demographic bubble of senior’s in the history of the western world. With people living longer and the natural attrition of their health their ability to live independently in their homes is sometimes diminished as well. Technology has come a long way in supporting independence in the last decade with the advent of GPS and mobile telecommunications.

Use a PERS to Stay Safe

To help keep people safe in their own homes and continue to live independently it is now possible to use personal emergency response systems. These are little devices that can either be set up around the home or portabley worn on the body of the individual. If they get into trouble by falling or wandering off they can contact the monitoring company or push a button that calls for help. Some of them can even be set up for medication reminding.

The cost of using a PERS monitoring system is small compared to the alternative of sustaining an injury with no help arriving for hours or even days. The biggest cause of loss of independence among seniors today is a fall. In a large percentage of cases, once someone falls and is sent to hospital they never return to living in their own home.

The PERS can be used as a panic button that the individual can push or as an alarm that will go off if the person moves beyond a certain vicinity. If the person is capable of doing most of their daily activities on their own a PERS can be an easier way to get the assistance than having to move into a senior’s residence or nursing home. At first their may be a pride issue that interferes with their full acceptance of having a PERS on them all the time or if there is dementia setting in, they may not recall having to put it on. It is good for the family members to sensitize the aging individual gradually to the idea of using the PERS for best results.

If you are considering getting a PERS or would like more information on how it works call Alarm Systems Ottawa today (613)-800-8739.