Emergency Response for Seniors On-the-Go
According to the Pew Research Center, 10,000 men and women reach retirement age each day in the United States. This will continue until 2030 when all baby boomers will have reached the age of 65. While they may be eligible for retirement benefits, a large number of these seniors are still active and healthy. They enjoy a busy lifestyle including travel and other leisure activities away from home.
What is PERS?
In an emergency, someone can summon help through a Personal Emergency Response System (PERS). The 1989 LifeCall commercial with the woman who fell and couldn’t get up made medical alerts like this famous!
Older people or those who are infirm benefit from the PERS device if they need to make direct contact with a dispatcher in the case of an emergency like a fall or a stroke. These systems work while in the home using a transmitter that calls out when the pendant is pressed.
Next Generation for the Boomer Generation
For today’s active recent retirees, system innovation was needed. While many of them wanted to have a direct access button in case of emergency, they also wanted mobile capability since they were often away from home.
In the last two years, the industry introduced the mPERS (mobile PERS) with cellular technology to meet this need.
How does PERS Work?
PERS or mPERS is a subscription service similar to your alarm monitoring. A subscriber initially purchases the equipment and then pays a monthly fee. The signal from the pendant notifies the monitoring station of an emergency. The dispatcher accesses the person’s name, address and medical history from the database. They will also have instructions on who to call or when to dispatch and include two-way audio so they can speak directly to the subscriber.
The mobile version can be used anywhere cellular service is available and also has GPS capability to ensure the person can be easily located if needed. It does need to have the battery charged on a regular basis but has an easy-to-use charging station.
The more advanced devices have fall indicators that recognize if you fall while wearing or holding the device. They can then activate the emergency contact procedures.
We Can Help!
Cultris Security Systems can get you or your loved one set up with a PERS. Call us today at 281-506-8466 or visit us online to learn more.
