Mom finally agreed to that medical alert system after her fall last Tuesday

My mom is 78 and lives alone in Phoenix. She took a nasty spill getting out of the bathtub last week and couldn't reach her phone for like 20 minutes. I've been pushing her to get a medical alert pendant for over a year but she kept saying she didn't need it. After that fall she finally asked me to order one. I picked up the LifeStation fall detection button she saw on TV. Got it delivered the next day and set it up in about 10 minutes. She's been wearing it around the house for 3 days now without complaint. The weird thing is she actually likes how light it is compared to her old costume jewelry. Has anyone else had a parent who fought the idea but came around after an accident?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole_murphy4d ago

The pendant thing is so real. My mom did the same dance for years and then finally caved after she slipped on a wet leaf and landed on her side. Now she loves it because she's like "it matches my personality" which honestly is the same thing she used to say about her sequined fanny pack in the 90s so I guess it checks out. The sensitivity thing is a real pain though. Mine has gone off when I was just trying to reach for a bag of chips on the top shelf and I had to explain to the operator that no I was not dying I was just hungry. Idk maybe we just get used to them eventually or maybe our parents are just stubborn creatures who hate being told what to do.

alice_allen54d ago

Hold on, maybe she didn't come around at all. She just gave in to stop you from nagging. My dad did the same thing after he tripped on the sidewalk, wore the pendant for a week, then stuck it in a drawer because he said it "made him feel like an invalid." Now he just keeps his phone in his pocket everywhere, even the shower in a ziplock bag. Plus those fall detection things go off if you sneeze too hard, my neighbor's mom triggered hers three times just bending over to pick up her cat. You might be setting yourself up for more worry, not less.

fisher.thomas4d ago

My mom was exactly the same way about her medical alert pendant. She wore it for two weeks then told me it made her feel like she was "one foot in the grave." What actually worked for us was getting her one of those smart watches that looks just like a normal watch but has fall detection built in. She feels way less self-conscious because it matches her outfits and she can check her texts on it. The false alarms thing is real though, we just turned down the sensitivity in the settings and it stopped happening. Honestly the phone in a ziplock bag trick your dad does is kind of genius for the shower problem.