Medical Alert

I take my device off. I put it on that little ledge. It was in the shower up above the direct spray, but it did get the mist and it killed it. The rep said, “She told you no water.” I said, ”She did not. Nobody told me don’t get it wet." He said, “It’s electronic. You don’t get the electronics wet.” I said, ‘I don’t know electronics.” We had to put a $100 deposit down on that to get it. I told the guy they're gonna have to give me another one. He said for another $100, I can. So I did without it for a while. The only thing that I hadn't quite figured out is if I needed somebody here in my apartment and I pressed for Medical Alert, they wouldn't come directly to my apartment. This facility that I’m in now is built in a square. There's a courtyard in the center, and they can't get inside unless they go to the front door.

I had to push my button for Medical Alert and my daughter said that the fire department was outside and there are people. Everybody was confused. So, I need some kind of prediction. I don't think it was right for the rep to tell me “Well for another 100, you can have another pendant.” He said, “Well, they cost me more than that.” If he could have kinda given me a little browbeating like, “Don’t get it wet!” I said, “What good is it if you can’t get it in the shower?” But there is that panic button right by the shower. If you fall, you're not gonna be able to reach that panic button. Overall, I’m very satisfied with it.

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.