Personal alarms - Admin plse move if wrong section

greyteam1959

PPP Ltd charge £54 per quarter for a lifeline system.

littlewren

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Is there a way of making it possible to always have your phone with you?  Perhaps a little bag or something to clip a pouch to your clothing, if you don't have pockets and can't always carry it.

The only one I've had personally recommended is handiSOS which is an upfront cost (currently £54.99) but no subscription fee, works with an app on your phone.
Edit: it's just occurred to me I should specify that although it works with an app on your phone, it's literally a button to press.  So one does need to be conscious just long enough to press a button, unlike an automatic alert sent out by watches.

Trouble is when I've had my hip done I'll be wearing pj's some of the time, while I recover and don't have pockets in there.  I would also prefer something that was 'properly' on me, like a bracelet or pendant so I didn't have to worry that I'd forgotten my phone.

littlewren

Misslayed said:

Do you wear a mobile phone pocket @littlewren? (Or a bra as some people call it!) I carry mine in there all the time 😉

Once I've had the op and recuperating I won't be wearing a bra (!)

littlewren

DullGreyGuy said:

littlewren said:

Thank you, I have an Android so wouldn't be able to take advantage of this, it sounds like a great idea!

I am not up on Android so wouldnt want to give poor advice but would be surprised if its unique to Apple... a quick google suggests that Samsung's Android watch has a similar feature.

It does seem to work well, the Mrs tripped the other day and it instantly started the 60 seconds countdown. She obviously pressed the "I'm ok" button to clear it rather than the SOS button. If there is no response within 60 seconds it does a 30 second countdown with an ever louder alarm until that's up at which point it contacts the emergency services and your medical contact (if set up) with your GPS position etc. 

Its a clever system and there are a fair few press stories of people being rescued by it (obv no idea if their stories are real of fake PR from Apple but it worked for our Aunt and appeared to work for the Mrs. 

Thank you but unfortunately I wouldn't be able to pay upfront for an Android watch but it does sound good

littlewren

Savvy_Sue said:

The downside of relying on a phone (without the link to a smart watch) is that you have to be conscious to use it, BUT there are phones where you can press a single button on the back to dial a pre-set number.

Prevention being better than cure, have you asked for an assessment from occupational therapy to ensure you have the right aids to help you move around safely?

I spoke to an OT a couple of days ago, apparently they can give me one but I'm yet to find out what kind it would be, i.e. what protection it could offer.  It would be £6 a week with no upfront cost.

littlewren

knightstyle said:

The Apple watch set up to detect a fall and then no movement looks like the best MSE way. Remember you don't need to buy expensive new watch, plenty around with lots of life left in them.
I got a '22 iPhone SE a few months ago for under £100 on marketplace.

Even paying that upfront is a no-no for me at the moment with things the way they are 😒

littlewren

greyteam1959 said:

PPP Ltd charge £54 per quarter for a lifeline system.

That's interesting, as it's comparable with what the OT is offering, thank you, I'll see what I can find, unless you have a link?

Spoonie_Turtle

littlewren said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Is there a way of making it possible to always have your phone with you?  Perhaps a little bag or something to clip a pouch to your clothing, if you don't have pockets and can't always carry it.

The only one I've had personally recommended is handiSOS which is an upfront cost (currently £54.99) but no subscription fee, works with an app on your phone.
Edit: it's just occurred to me I should specify that although it works with an app on your phone, it's literally a button to press.  So one does need to be conscious just long enough to press a button, unlike an automatic alert sent out by watches.

Trouble is when I've had my hip done I'll be wearing pj's some of the time, while I recover and don't have pockets in there.  I would also prefer something that was 'properly' on me, like a bracelet or pendant so I didn't have to worry that I'd forgotten my phone.

Understandable, both points!  [Just to mention in case you hadn't realised, the HandiSOS can be worn as a pendant or bracelet etc., but of course I don't know if it would even do the job you want it to as it doesn't have any fall detection.]

Looking at whether any relatively basic watches even have an SOS feature let alone fall detection, it seems there's a real gap in the market for exactly that - fall detection & SOS but NOT tied to any subscription, and for a reasonable price.  It can't be that difficult or expensive, surely, to make something without all the fancy gadgetry of smart watches.  There are a couple of watches I've found not connected to an emergency line but they charge an ongoing subscription for the app instead (the cheapest I've found was £1.99/week, plus £99 upfront cost for the watch device.  A steal compared with another one charging £20+ per month!).

The £6/month recommended by the OT could turn out to be best, if it does what you need it to.

littlewren

Spoonie_Turtle said:

littlewren said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Is there a way of making it possible to always have your phone with you?  Perhaps a little bag or something to clip a pouch to your clothing, if you don't have pockets and can't always carry it.

The only one I've had personally recommended is handiSOS which is an upfront cost (currently £54.99) but no subscription fee, works with an app on your phone.
Edit: it's just occurred to me I should specify that although it works with an app on your phone, it's literally a button to press.  So one does need to be conscious just long enough to press a button, unlike an automatic alert sent out by watches.

Trouble is when I've had my hip done I'll be wearing pj's some of the time, while I recover and don't have pockets in there.  I would also prefer something that was 'properly' on me, like a bracelet or pendant so I didn't have to worry that I'd forgotten my phone.

Understandable, both points!  [Just to mention in case you hadn't realised, the HandiSOS can be worn as a pendant or bracelet etc., but of course I don't know if it would even do the job you want it to as it doesn't have any fall detection.]

Looking at whether any relatively basic watches even have an SOS feature let alone fall detection, it seems there's a real gap in the market for exactly that - fall detection & SOS but NOT tied to any subscription, and for a reasonable price.  It can't be that difficult or expensive, surely, to make something without all the fancy gadgetry of smart watches.  There are a couple of watches I've found not connected to an emergency line but they charge an ongoing subscription for the app instead (the cheapest I've found was £1.99/week, plus £99 upfront cost for the watch device.  A steal compared with another one charging £20+ per month!).

The £6/month recommended by the OT could turn out to be best, if it does what you need it to.

Thank you for the info, it's very confusing.  I've asked the OT to ring me again on Monday to go through what the council is offering as I still haven't been told if it has a fall detector.

greyteam1959

littlewren said:

greyteam1959 said:

PPP Ltd charge £54 per quarter for a lifeline system.

That's interesting, as it's comparable with what the OT is offering, thank you, I'll see what I can find, unless you have a link?

Link here

https://taking.care/pages/contact-taking-care