Please call Independent Living Solutions for the best Texas Medical Alert & Emergency Response System in Austin, Georgetown, San Antonio, Temple, Waco, San Antonio. (512) 779-4907 or email ahouse@ilstexas.com.

The Future of In-Home Monitoring continues…

Whatever the reasoning, the danger still exists for someone who has taken a fall, especially if they are elderly and alone. For those who are unable to get up from a fall, the amount of time they spend immobile will greatly affect the outcome of their health and rehabilitation. In other words, a fall that results in a serious injury may signify the beginning of declining health that may become an irreversible, downward spiral.

Even 90% of the falls that don’t result in injury may have a detrimental impact on the health and well-being of a loved one. While the best strategy for caregivers can be found in forms of prevention, it’s still nearly impossible to know what’s really going on with a loved one when they are on their own.

The next-best-thing to help caregivers in their struggle to prevent falls may be found in technology. While a computer or a machine may not have the physical prowess to stop someone from falling, they can be used to determine when someone has fallen, greatly reducing the amount of time the person may have normally spent on the floor, with their health situation rapidly declining while waiting for help.

The latest in “electronic” caregiving technology can be found with the advent of the personal emergency response system or PERS. The way in which a typical PERS works is a person wears an electronic pendant, either around the neck or wrist, which they press immediately upon any type of emergency, whether they’ve had a fall, think that they may be suffering from a heart attack, or fear that an intruder is on the premises.

When pressed, the pendant works as a transmitter contacting a regular telephone system, automatically dialing emergency agencies such as the police department, fire department, or even a family member or neighbor. This works well when a person isn’t unconscious and has the ability to communicate what their particular emergency is, but what about those who may fall and lose consciousness?

Personal Emergency Response System: The Future of In-Home Monitoring – AMBER System
By Hilary Gibson

No two caregivers in Texas are alike, and neither are their situations, yet there is one commonality which exists among all of them, whether they are caring for someone within the home, or as a long distance caregiver, and that is the constant worry about a loved one falling when they are alone.

Injuries caused by falls are a common occurrence among the elderly. Studies report that 30% of people who are over the age of 65 (about 35 million Americans) fall every year, and that these incidences increase to 50% for those over the age of 80. It’s been estimated that at least 60% of all falls occur in the home, with another 30% happening in public places, and 10% taking place in healthcare institutions.

There are also 26 million people with neuromuscular or cognitive diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, ALS and even diabetes who fall even more frequently. The data reported about those over 65 is probably quite conservative, since many of these falls go unreported, because many people may think that falling is a normal part of aging process, or because they may be unable to realize what has happened to them due to a condition such as Alzheimer’s.

They may also not report a fall due to being embarrassed, or because they fear that if others know that they have fallen, their activities and independence may then be greatly restricted.

Please call Independent Living Solutions for the best Texas Medical Alert & Emergency Response System in Austin, Georgetown, San Antonio, Temple, Waco, San Antonio. (512) 779-4907 or email ahouse@ilstexas.com.

Medical Alert Systems brings peace of mind to working families.. knowing their elder loved one living in Austin, Georgetown, San Antonio, Temple Texas is safe. AMBER - a critical part of a safe, loving, care plan for Texas Seniors and Elders. If you have questions about our medical alert system, please call me at (512) 779-4907 or email ahouse@ilstexas.com.

Health care providers and emergency medical services personnel are sometimes called on to assist when elderly people in Austin, San Antonio, and Georgetown are found in their homes in need of emergency attention and unable to summon help.

In a typical case, a neighbor notices an elderly person’s absence or the fact that mail has piled up and calls emergency services. The precipitating incident can be a fall, a stroke, failure to thrive, or some other senior event. The clinical course for persons found alive but incapacitated can be complicated by factors related to the duration of time since the person became helpless, such as severe dehydration or decubitus ulcers.

The prognosis for such elderly patients is thought to be poor. Because of the variety of possible causes of these events, some health care providers refer to patients found in these circumstances as “found down,” with the amount of time that the patient is helpless referred to as “down time.”

Conclusions – For elderly people who live alone, becoming incapacitated and unable to get help is a common event, which usually marks the end of their ability to live independently.

Independent Living Solutions - Your Central Texas Authorized AMBER Source. We honor local competitor’s coupons  (ResponseLINK, PAL, Acadian, etc.)

Medical Alert Systems brings peace of mind to working families..

Deborah Russell, AARP’s director of work-force issues, believes that a shift in corporate policy and culture must occur for workers to successfully balance the demands of work and family. “As boomers age, this issue will become even more important,” Russell says. “Employers will have to have resources in place, like flextime and programs to help caregivers at a distance, or else productivity will go down.”

Slowly, companies are responding. Some offer support groups for employee caregivers during lunch hours. Others contract with elder care services to offer programs such as one-on-one counseling, referrals to dependent-care services and at-home assessments to determine what services an older adult needs to live independently.

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae invests $100,000 annually to provide elder care benefits for its employees in Washington, about 1,200 workers have taken advantage of the program. A survey in 2002 showed that 28 percent said they would have been forced to quit without such help, says Senior Program Manager Michelle Stone.

According to Stone, a full-time, on-site gerontologist advises employees on elder care resources and services. She can assist with counseling, long-distance caregiving, financial issues, housing options, even phone calls. “With this kind of help,” says Stone, “employees are then able to focus on their role at work rather than spend time doing the research themselves.”

Despite the recent attention, a stigma in the work place remains attached to elder care, according to NAC president Gail Hunt. “People are afraid that when their companies are downsizing, they’ll be remembered for taking time off to care for their mother,” Hunt says.

Gerontologist Eichelbaum believes that companies that do adopt compassionate policies are bound to get more satisfied, loyal and productive workers in return. “It would be nice to work in an environment where people understand your challenges, where your boss understands,” she says. “When companies are compassionate, everybody works harder.”

Article provided by:
Independent Living Solutions
AMBER System Leasing, Installation, and Service in the Austin and San Antonio, TX metro areas.
For more information about AMBER call: 512-779-4907  or  512-659-3282  or  info@ilstexas.com.

AMBER isn’t  “just a good idea”, AMBER is a critical part of a safe, loving, care-plan for Texas Seniors and Elders. If you have questions about our medical alert system, please call me at (512) 779-4907 or email ahouse@ilstexas.com.

Medical Alert Systems brings peace of mind to working families.. knowing their elder loved one living in Austin, Georgetown, San Antonio, Temple Texas is safe.

Not everyone is able to manage the often conflicting demands of working and caregiving. The “MetLife Juggling Act Study,” reported by the MetLife Mature Market Institute in 1999, found that 16 percent of employees quit their jobs and 13 percent retired early because they could not manage full-time work along with the demands of caring for children, spouses and parents.

The study found that of 950 working caregivers, the average loss per person was an estimated $566,500 in wages, $67,000 in pension benefits and $25,500 in Social Security benefits – a lifetime loss of $659,000. The reasons cited were reduced work hours and missed promotions, transfers or training opportunities.
While taking a toll on workers, elder care problems also hurt business. The MetLife report estimated that U.S. companies lose $11 billion to $29 billion a year in reduced productivity. Gerontologist Sandra Timmermann says a new report due out soon will reveal the loss is much greater.

“This next decade is bound to be the elder care decade,” says Timmermann. “People are working, they live far away from their parents, there are fewer siblings, and they don’t have support systems in place.”

Despite the growing number of workers with caregiving responsibilities, only about one in four U.S. businesses offers employees elder care support services and benefits such as flexible hours and telecommuting, according to the Society for Human Resources Management in Alexandria, Va. And that hasn’t changed in a decade, says Donna Wagner, director of gerontology at Towson University in Maryland. “Only the big companies offer this, and the majority of the American work force doesn’t work for big companies, so you’re touching very few lives when it comes to this issue.”

Visit us tomorrow on more news about working families caring for elders at a distance.

Independent Living Solutions – a leading supplier of medical alert systems in Central Texas. We help keep your elder loved ones safe a home in Austin, San Antonio, Georgetown, Round Rock San Marcos, Temple, Waco. 

If you have questions about our medical alert system, please call me at (512) 779-4907 or email ahouse@ilstexas.com.

NOT just another “push a button to get help” box! AMBER is an  Advanced Health Protection Service – AMBER costs no more than most of the familiar “Push a Button to Get Help” boxes; but AMBER delivers so many more benefits!

If your loved one lives alone at home, AMBER isn’t  “just a good idea”, AMBER is a critical part of a safe, loving, care-plan.

Double Bind:

As boomers juggle work and caring for aging parents, business pays price – By: Carole Fleck Source: AARP Bulletin

New York gerontologist Ellen Eichelbaum was giving a speech on elder care issues in Dallas when she was interrupted by news of her own elder care crisis. Eichelbaum’s 89-year-old mother urgently needed medical attention following oral surgery. At the same time, Eichelbaum received word that her pregnant daughter was in labor.

“I ran out to where my mother lives in New Jersey while my daughter was giving birth in Pennsylvania. The stress was so unbelievable that I could feel my blood boiling,” says Eichelbaum, 58, who counsels companies about how to help their employees care for ailing parents. “My own life has become hell because I’m constantly making choices. Who should I take care of first, my grandchildren, my mother or my husband?”

As people live longer, more boomers like Eichelbaum are finding themselves caring for their parents while trying to balance the demands of a job and the needs of their children. Doing double, sometimes triple duty takes a toll not only on their emotions but also on their finances and their productivity at work. Increasingly, employees and employers are looking for ways to cope.

More than 44 million Americans are involved in caring for an aging relative or friend, and about 29 million of them are employed, according to the nonprofit National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC) in Bethesda, Md., and AARP. Among boomers, 35 percent say they are, or have been, responsible for their parents’ care.

Visit us soon to learn more…

Women’s Heart Foundation – Panic Attack or Heart Attack? Diagnosing heart disease in Texas Women
A Healthy Hearts Guide

Independent Living Solutions – a leading supplier of medical alert systems in Central Texas. We help keep your elder loved ones safe a home in Austin, San Antonio, Georgetown, Round Rock San Marcos, Temple, Waco.

Heart disease in women is often mistaken for panic attack with shortness of breath, anxiety, palpitations and indigestion. Only by having testing beyond the standard EKG can a correct diagnosis be made. When in doubt about symptoms, seek care without delay to rule out heart disease.

Heart disease for Texas women affects the heart’s muscle, blood vessels, and electrical system and is the leading cause of death among women. The most common form of heart disease is coronary artery disease in which plaque (a fat-like substance) deposits on artery walls. Plaque build-up is called atherosclerosis.

This is a chronic condition that occurs in people with risk factors such as diabetes, obesity, smoking, abnormal levels of blood fats, high blood pressure, a family history of heart disease and older age. When a plaque ruptures, it causes a blood clot to form and suddenly block an artery. If this happens in a heart artery, it results in a heart attack.

This is an Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) and getting life-saving treatment – within the first 30 minutes of an attack – is crucial to prevent permanent heart damage or even death.

Visit again in a day to view more information on Texas Women’s Heart Disease.

Independent Living Solutions – a leading supplier of medical alert systems in Central Texas. We help keep your elder loved ones safe a home in Austin, San Antonio, Georgetown, Round Rock San Marcos, Temple, Waco. If you have questions about our medical alert system, please call me at (512) 779-4907 or email ahouse@ilstexas.com.

Independent Living Solutions is the factory authorized and factory trained source for the AMBER System in Central Texas.

The user is encouraged to call the AMBER monitoring-center for ANY reason or concern, medical or non-medical, 24hrs a day.

In early 2009, AMBER (as an option) will be able to receive results from six affordable wireless home health testing devices and securely transmit the results to the user’s physician or other licensed medical professional designated by the client.

• AMBER is offered with a no-risk 30-day “money-back if not satisfied” trial period.
• AMBER is under warranty as long as the monthly service charge is being paid.
• AMBER requires no long-term commitments and there are no cancellation fees or termination of service charges.

The AMBER System, a monthly service charge of $31.95, provides more functionality and protection than any other comparable system. Medication reminders, Health Test reminders and Wellness Checks are included in AMBER’s $31.95 monthly service charge.For an additional $17.95 monthly service charge, AMBER can provide and monitor the use of a MED-Ready 28-Dose Automatic Pill Dispenser.

There is a one-time $50 set-up and registration charge for the AMBER base station and waterproof pendant or wrist button. The optional MED-Ready Automatic Pill Dispenser also has a one-time $50 set-up and registration charge. The optional Automatic Fall Detector Pendant has a one-time $99 set-up and registration charge.

Independent Living Solutions accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express and monthly bank drafts. AMBER offers superior value compared to Phillips LifeLine, ResponseLINK, P.A.L., or Acadian On Call.

For more information on the AMBER System, call (512) 779-4907 or email info@ilstexas.com

Independent Living Solutions Your Central Texas Authorized AMBER Source – Call us at (512) 779-4907 or email ahouse@ilstexas.com.

Hello, I’m Alan House with Independent Living Solutions – a leading supplier of medical alert systems in Central Texas. Welcome to my blog – for Texas seniors and families who care for them… we help keep your elder loved ones safe a home. If you have questions about our medical alert system, please call me at (512) 779-4907 or email ahouse@ilstexas.com.

Subscribers of Medical Emergency Response Systems (like AMBER) have fewer hospital admissions and shorter stays after they subscribe. This allows them to live independently longer.”  (New England Journal of Medicine)

The AMBER System, designed and manufactured by Visonic, is the most advanced Medical Alert System available today:

• AMBER is able to detect and report falls without any button being pushed.
• AMBER is able to recognize questionable inactivity and report it to the monitoring center.
• AMBER can remind people to take medications
• Complete a health test
• Get ready for an appointment
• All supervised by the monitoring center

 

AMBER can monitor signals from multiple (small) alert buttons placed around the home.AMBER’s reception range can be extended to ¼ mile or more. AMBER reports to an AMBER-dedicated 24/7/365 monitoring center staffed by qualified, AMBER-trained personnel.The user is encouraged to call the AMBER monitoring-center for ANY reason or concern, medical or non-medical, 24hrs a day.

AMBER Service is only $31.95 per month (includes what others charge up to $49.95 for) $50 one-time set-up and registration fee.

“We honor local competitor’s coupons” (ResponseLINK, PAL, Acadian, etc.) and we give you a 30-Day No-Risk Trial – Month to Month Leasing – No Cancellation Charges

Visa  MasterCard  Discover  AMEX  AutoCheck Monitored Automatic Pill Dispenser NOW AVAILABLE