Posted on 02/28/2025 6:33:29 AM PST by Leaning Right
Gene Hackman’s sad passing motivated me to post this as a new thread.
There are alarm companies that will call you every single day to see if you’re okay. The cost is reasonable, maybe $40 a month.
Every older or handicapped person (or couple) should seriously consider getting such a service.
I should add… if you don’t answer the call, the company will start to call people on a list you previously provided them. So you could say call 911 first. Then call my son.
“if you don’t answer the call,”
What if I’m in the shower, driving, don’t hear the ring because of the loud rock and roll on the radio? Maybe it’s not for me even though it’s not a bad idea.
Every morning, I text my kid with a ‘good morning’ and get a thumb’s up back when convenient. Less than 10 seconds. Could just as easily be a neighbor or a friend.
Every older or handicapped person (or couple) should seriously consider getting such a service.
***************
Considered, no thanks........
My neighbor's HVAC went sideways while she was at work and the alarm notified her and she called the FD. When they showed up the CO levels were over 400ppm - loss of consciousness in less than a minute and death in 3-4 minutes more. Fortunately her dogs were in the garage.
> What if I’m in the shower… <
Ugh! I forgot to mention that you set the time for the call. So let’s say you pick 10 AM. Just don’t be showering at 10 AM.
🙂
You can also cancel a call for a day, or longer. So if you’re going to be at an important meeting at 10 AM, you can cancel the call for that day.
Interesting idea, imagine this service would not have saved them, just would have found them before decomposing.
This certainly was certainly suspicious
If someone isn’t picking up the phone, then the emergency has already happened.
The life alert button is the best strategy still.
Cost in the $500 range.
> The life alert button is the best strategy still. <
Totally agree… and that’s something I should have mentioned earlier.
The phone call thing is a nice back-up if the person is incapacitated to the point that pushing a button is not possible.
My wife’s mom had that Life Alert - she set it off accidentally like 3 times and I was the one that had to go to her house to see if she was ok (we were first point of contact). It was nice to see the thing worked.
If you are young enough to enjoy loud rock and roll, then this service probably isn’t for you.
You can instruct most alarm companies how to handle calls. You could probably set up for them to call once. If no answer, call again in 10 minutes. If no answer on second call, call again in 10 minutes. If no answer, call relative or 911.
My MIL lived in a facility if the toilet didn’t flush by 8:00 a.m., they would send a nurse to check on you.
The American Legion has their Buddy Check program. As an honorably discharged Marine Gene Hackman could have used that.
Life alert will do regular testing calls. I would assume they could do a daily check.
The phone companies could scheduled automated calls. Totally electronic.
Just don’t shower at that time. If no answer another call 20 minutes later.
Any device connected to the internet could do the job.
Apparently he has one or more children. What happened to kids calling their parents every day? I called my mom every evening after her caregiver left and talked for an hour or so until she was ready to take her night time pills and then go to bed. Every evening. For at least a year until she had around the clock care. My sister and brother were local, but they needed breaks. I did what I could from far away, and I did it every single day. It became part of my routine. It’s sad that people don’t care about their loved ones anymore.
I think you can call them back.
They mention the “reasonable” price for this service. I don’t know what it costs here, but if you are at the lower end of S.S. payments, then it’s not “reasonable”. I guess it might be more reasonable if you didn’t have to consider inflation on other things that you MUST have.
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