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I posted earlier but I have another comment. You said she wears the pendant during the day but takes it off when she is in bed. I work part-time for a medical alert company (The Electronic Caregiver) and with our system the individual can wear the pendant as a wristwatch or around their neck, it is interchangeable. With the system you have do you have that option?

I was glad to hear that she wears the fall pendant on the outside of her clothes which means it should work correctly. I can't tell you how many times someone falls and it does not register the fall due to the pendant being tucked in their shirt!
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JennaRose Jan 2021
I don't know if Philip's Lifeline can be interchangeable with the wristwatch. The problem with the wristwatch is it doesn't have the fall detection feature and my Mom (due to her dementia) probably would not push the button. The pendant is better as it has set off the monitor when she has fallen in the past. She doesn't need to press the button.
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The staff sometimes gave one of those to my mother, more to "call" for assistance, but she had NO clue what it was. If it caught her attention, she'd bring the button up to inspect it, then push it. Of course staff would then have to come undo the call! Seems like that was a waste of time for them, not really accomplishing the "goal" (don't think it was anything more than a call button - mom wasn't at the point where she'd fall from a chair or the wheelchair.)

Could the button be pinned to the back of her shirt/sweater? Since she's less likely to press the button, it's the fall feature that's important. If it's placed right, she won't be able to reach it. The ability to call for help is less useful if 1) they can't remember and 2) if the fall or the cause of the fall renders them unable to move/press it, so it's mainly the fall feature that would help.

Cameras are good too, so long as they can capture all parts of the house. They don't rely on the person's ability to call for help. Even if generally she stays in her room or the bathroom, she could wander off into other parts of the house, perhaps confused and looking for you. YB put up some cameras, but certainly not enough to be able to see her anywhere in her condo. They were helpful, but not enough for my comfort - I'd have to wait until she came into view to know if she was up and about!
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JennaRose Jan 2021
We live in a small ranch house (3 small bedrooms and 1 bathroom). There is only 1 hallway that leads from her bedroom to the bathroom. The camera I ordered from Amazon (I will give reviews once I set it up) should capture my Mom not only in her bedroom but also the hallway on my smartphone. If it works like it says it should, I will order a 2nd camera to put in the bathroom because she could fall there as well.

This camera has a feature where it pans 360 degrees and up and down. It also has a feature where I can talk to her when I'm in a store.

My Mom rarely goes into the kitchen (except when we play cards most afternoons on our large kitchen table) because she depends on me to get her meals and I have never seen her in the living room. She enjoys her bedroom the most because that's where her TV is and her Echo Dot where she could listen to music all day. Then she puts on her game shows.

I'm excited about this camera and once again if it does what it says it does (I did lots of research before ordering it) then I will give my review.

That said, as long as she wears the pendant during the day (which works when she has fallen in the past) then that's good.

My question when I first posted was I wanted to know what other 24/7 caregivers use to monitor their elderly loved ones and how to keep them safe as well as the problem with my Mom taking off her pendant at night because it bothers her when she goes to sleep and getting in her position to lay on her side. My Mom is a good sleeper and rarely gets up during the night (though anything could happen).

Thanks,
Jenna
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Imho, elders' mindset are often incorrect in NOT wearing the Life Alert pendant. My mother would take her's off while showering, but she knew that she wasn't supposed to remove it. Still, she would say something akin to "I didn't want it to get wet," even though she had been told to wear it AT ALL TIMES. Prayers sent.
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My mom had a necklace that she'd leave around the neck of her blouse when she took it off (and so it was in the clothes hamper, LOL). I found where she lived, there was also a "watch" alert option. She was used to wearing a watch, so I had her necklace switched to a watch and that solved the issue. A watch is also harder to take off, because your mom would have to work the clasp, which might stop her from removing it.

If that's not an option, could you put the necklace in a pocket instead of around her neck, so she would forget it is there?
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