Medical Alert

Three years ago, I fell in my bedroom. I had to use the device twice there, and they called 911, and they came and picked me up and hauled me off to the hospital. I was trying to call my son and I couldn't reach him. The operator for the GreatCall stayed on the line and she kept trying to call my son until she reached him. It was at night and he was on a business call. She reached him and she stayed on the line until he got over here, which was across town from him, where he was living. That really helped me that she got him before I went to the hospital and my big Boxer dog was trying to help the drivers.

I fell one time on the street. It was at the veterinarian's office. It was on the sidewalk, in front of my car. I was carrying my little Schnauzer dog into the vet and couldn't get up. The women who were employed there saw me and they came running out and then the doctor came out and lifted me up on my feet, and someone else carried my dog and went in. And the vet had me stay for a little while before I tried to leave. So, I've had some good experiences with Medical Alert. I had an operator on the line all the time talking to me and she wanted to know if I was all right. I told her that veterinarian and his employees were getting me inside and I was okay. So, she got off then.

Still, one of the best things that I like about Medical Alert is when I got the little collar around my neck, and then, they also sent me a watch that I could put on my wrist. I absolutely love that because I don't like the thing hanging around my neck. My device is only for in my condo, not outside, and I keep that with me all the time, either on my wrist or in the pocket of my shirt when I'm at home. It also has a testing program on it that I'm supposed to do every month and I've done it twice. When we test it, it comes on and I talk to somebody immediately, so I like that a lot. They ask if I need help as well.

Another thing is that, I don't have to charge the device. It stays charged because it goes through the electric system. The other company's phone that hangs around the neck didn't stay charged very well and I had to charge it myself. All in all, I'm very happy with Medical Alert's product and it makes me feel secure because if I were to fall up here on the weekend, my helper wouldn't find me 'til 9 o'clock on Monday morning, so I could be here from Friday night 'til Monday if I didn't have some device.

But I did not know that the watch one could be used either as a necklace or a watch. I did not know that that did not register if I fell. When I called and spoke to a representative, she mailed me the teardrop. But I found out there was a $10 additional charge and I'm confused about that. Now, instead of 40.94 a month, it's costing me 50.94 a month. I love the system and it's very good but they should explain things a little more carefully. When their rep found out that I didn't know, she tried to tell me that I gotta do this. I said we needed to start from square one. I raised my voice and I overspoke her. But after that, everything was fine.

There was a time I wore the teardrop and I had a turtleneck sweater on. The teardrop was on the outside of the sweater and I went out. It was like a necklace and it was moving around. About 10 minutes after I got home, I had the rescue and the fire department here. They knocked on the door and I told them to come in. They asked if I was all right to which I replied I was fine. They said they had been trying to reach me as my unit kept going off. I said, "My unit goes off? Nobody called me."

I found out during this instance that when they call to see if you are all right, it comes up as an unknown number. When you answer the phone, they say, "Medical Alert." I don't answer my phone if it comes up as an unknown number because there are too many spam things going on and too many con artists. I told them that. They told me to check my phone because they were on the line with the rescue department. They had tried to get me four times. Sure enough, it was all unknown or a mobile number. It was not from around here too. I didn't like that. When Medical Alert calls you, it should say something on your phone other than unknown.

Medical Alert called me and wanted me to change over to another system where if I fell down and will be unconscious, it will be better. But it was a larger unit. Also, it wasn’t gonna serve my purposes. When I got the information on it, it said that I had to take it off at night. I don’t take this one off at night, because if I get up at night, I won’t risk anything. I gotta be careful because if I break an arm, a leg, or my back, I’ll be in a nursing home, and I can’t afford a nursing home. I live alone, too. I’m using a walker in the house and I’m really watching what I do, and I don’t walk and talk. And if I go someplace, I go with my family.

I’m supposed to test my Medical Alert device every month. I’m afraid to do it for fear I don’t get it turned back on right. But my niece is a nurse and she comes and takes me to the doctors. And so I have her help me, and we do it. The girls at Medical Alert are so nice. I asked, “Aren’t I supposed to be paying you a bill for the following year?” The rep said, “Well, I can do it right here.” She went ahead and took care of it, and I paid $200 for the year. I’d gladly pay it.

The one issue I had was when my son came and installed it for me, there were discrepancies in the instructions in the booklet and online. If we'd look in the booklet, and then we'd look in the online instructions, there was a difference in the order of what we plugged into what and what we unplugged. The plugins’ ends weren’t exactly the same. We thought that we had the wrong cord. Eventually, we fixed it so it worked. But I still couldn’t get the phone and the machine far enough apart. Getting it set up was a minor problem ‘cause I couldn’t physically bend down and plug things into the wall. I had to have my son come and do it. The installation instructions contradicted themselves. We worked it out in the end, so it was okay.

There were a couple of times when I was drying myself vigorously that I accidentally set the device off. The people called me back instantly and I apologized. But thank god I haven’t needed it. My question is that if I fall and I’m nowhere near the phone, it’ll go off, I don't know if I can talk to them through the device. The thing is if they can’t reach anyone, they just send the ambulance. So, even if I fell in the shower, I couldn’t get to the phone. I'd call them and find out about it.