Medical alarm valuable tool for ageing people

Her eye is swollen, her face bruised and her forehead scratched.
But Marie Wyatt is pleased to be alive after she tripped in her garage and smacked her head on the concrete earlier this week.
The 80-year-old tripped on Thursday morning and used her medical alert bracelet to contact St John ambulance services, who took her to Tauranga Hospital.
Mrs Wyatt said she looked "very nasty" and was too ashamed to have her photo taken by the Bay of Plenty Times Weekend but she wanted to advise others of the importance of medical alarms.
Her fall comes after 79-year-old Alan Evens fell in his Waihi home on Wednesday night. He trapped his arm in his armchair and suffered bad burns from a nearby bar heater.
He was in a serious but stable condition in Waikato Hospital's High Dependency Unit last night.
Mrs Wyatt said the difference between having an alarm and not having one was potentially the difference between life and death.
"I wouldn't be without it. This is the best thing I can have because I know whenever I fall I can get help and that is very important to me."
Mrs Wyatt lives in Carmel Country Estate and has used her medical alarm three times in the past year. For her, the service gives her peace of mind and the ability to remain living independently.
"When I had my hip replacement, I fell, and at that time I didn't have an alarm. So that's when I came to the decision that a medical alarm was needed.
"At Carmel Country they have alarms in the bedroom and bathroom, but I fell in the garage and hit my head. So while it's very important to have the alarms in those rooms, they're not the only places where you're going to fall."
Mrs Wyatt uses a Safe Link medical alarm, which managing director Jackie Mace said had been operating out of Tauranga since February 2003.
The service rapidly grew and now operates around the country.
When the red button is pressed, the client is connected to a call centre, in Tauranga. If the client needs medical attention or does not answer the returned phone call, an ambulance is sent.
More than 300 clients in the Western Bay of Plenty use a Safe Link medical alarm.
Greerton's Ruth Shanks, 85, is another client of Safe Link, and her medical alarm allows her to keep her independence after her husband passed away. She wears her alarm around her neck, underneath her clothes.
"It just looks like a chain around my neck and no one knows it's there," she said.
"My husband had one for five years before he passed, and now that I'm 85 and living on my own, I know that if I fell I would have that to rely on. I just push the button and within half a minute the phone will ring and see if you're all right."
BUPA Care Services offer personal medical alarm units to more than a thousand people in the Bay of Plenty. Western North Island regional manager Peter Fields said their service offered a three-way telephone system between the client, the communication centre and St John ambulance.
"While we are on the phone to the customer, the lines are kept open to the ambulance, so if anything changes we're able to update them immediately.
"This is a huge comfort to people to know help is only the push of a button away."
St John is the largest provider of medical alarms in New Zealand.
Pam Jordan, from St John, said medical alert systems had saved the life of the wearer many times. "The quicker we can get to them, the better their recovery will be. With us, the alarm bypasses the 111 system and goes straight to St John, who call them back immediately and if they don't respond, an ambulance is dispatched.
"Having that life link virtually to us means they're instantly connected to help when needed, either through ambulance, fire and police."
President of the Western Bay of Plenty branch of Age Concern, Angela Scott, said medical alarms were "a good idea" as long as clients were not pressured into purchasing one.
"I do think they're important and they're a valuable tool for ageing people, but there's so many out there and people need to do their research before purchasing one to find the one that's right for them," she said.
To be eligible for a medical alarm, clients must be referred by their doctor. Work and Income can subsidise the cost of medical alarms, which can cost around $1000 each. This cost increases as extra features are added, such as a fall detector, pill reminder or smoke sensor.
Mrs Mace said in the near future medical alarms might have GPS included, so if clients fell while they were away from home, they could still be helped.
"The next five years are very exciting times.
"Medical alarms can do a range of things, but we need to keep them basic and simple so people can use them effectively."