Finding a Good Medical Alert System for Your Loved One

I’ve written before about the importance of making sure that your aging parent or other loved one has done the appropriate planning in advance of a sudden event that may cause death or disability. However, it is important to think about these issues holistically, and not simply from a legal angle. As such, I also encourage efforts to make sure that, in the event of a medical emergency, any suffering and loss of potential loss of physical or mental function can be mitigated as much as possible.

I am not a medical professional, but I do think it is important to make sure that, as they become more vulnerable and frail, and especially if they live alone, your loved ones have a way to communicate in a medical emergency that is quick and effective. Toward that end, I encourage my clients to take some time to work out how their loved one will communicate to first responders in the event they have an urgent medical need.

One option that you can use is a smart watch. The Apple Watch, in particular, is well known for its emergency calling features and health monitoring capabilities.

However, if your loved one isn’t accustomed to using technology of this nature, or if you want even better assurance, a full-on medical alert system may be the solution. This article on caring.com does a fantastic job of reviewing some of the current offerings.

Again, I’m not a medical professional so I can’t really recommend one option versus another, but I think it is important for people to have the resources they need to make good decisions for any loved ones who are living independently.