A medical alarm is an alarm system designed to signal the presence of a hazard requiring urgent attention and to summon emergency medical personnel. Other terms for a medical alarm are Personal Emergency Response System (PERS) or medical alert. It is especially important to recognize the need to respond to situations where the person is unable to summon help.
Typical systems have a wireless pendant or transmitter that can be activated in an emergency. When the medical alarm is activated, the signal is transmitted to an alarm monitoring company's central station, other emergency agency or other programmed phone numbers. Medical personnel are then dispatched to the site where the alarm was activated. Elderly people and disabled people who live alone commonly use/require medical alarms, and some of them have been victimized by fraudulent marketing.
Origin
The concept of home alert systems was conceived and developed in the 1970s. The American implementation was conceived in 1973 by Andrew Dibner, "a psychologist on leave from Boston University who was studying personality in advanced age." In Germany, in the early 1970s, Wilhelm Hormann thought about developing a comprehensive structure for ambulatory and non-ambulatory care for the sick, the elderly, those who live alone, and people with disabilities.
Dibner established a company in 1974. Named Lifeline Systems Inc., it manufactured all its own equipment, and by 1984 had 225 employees and served "some 42,000 people in 48 states." In 1975 American International Telephone Company offered an emergency home phone system. The user wore a medallion around the neck that when pushed delivered a preprogrammed message to several phone numbers.
Hormann's concept of "home alert" (Hausnotruf) with help from AEG-Telefunken Backnang GmbH was presented to the international public early in 1980. In 1982 the Hausnotruf PERS system was distinguished with the Frankfurt Innovation Prize of the German Economy by the Wirtschaftsclub Rhein Main e.V. (Rhein-Main Business Club) in Frankfurt-am-Main.
A 2012 Swiss estimate reported that around 50,000 emergency call devices were then use.
Types of providers
There are several different types of medical alarm providers: Hospital programs which are operated by volunteers. Companies that provide for seniors in their homes. Full service companies that provide patient onboarding, logistics management, installation, ongoing education and periodic testing programs. Individually coordinated services that rely on a smart phone app to communicate alerts to a list of personal contacts. Closed systems which are run by an organization such as a university or CCRC
Types of devices
There are a number of different devices that can be used to trigger an alarm. Pendant worn around the neck Small device worn on the belt Wristband Installed motion detectors in a home Radar based detectors in a room Active devices require the user to take some action to trigger an alarm condition; passive systems monitor the user and raise an alarm based on an algorithm - a fall, lack of activity, etc. A weakness of active devices is that the user must be conscious to trigger the alarm. Both passive and active devices require that the user wear the device. Installed systems can be expensive and difficult to deploy.
Functionality
A medical alarm system may consist of
Personal Device
a wireless transmitter, which is worn around the neck, on a belt, or on a wrist
an application running on a smart phone and carried in a pocket
the device may contain a speaker and microphone
Sensor(s) fall detection sensors movement sensors door open/close sensors usage sensor on a device such as a microwave oven Communication cellular data access for operation anywhere there is cell phone coverage an in-home base station that is either connected to a regular telephone, or to a WiFi network, an ISDN line, or to a cellular data network. The base station may contain a speaker and microphone Data some systems will transmit the GPS location of the alarming device some systems can be configured to transmit additional personal information when an alarm is triggered (such as age, medical history, etc.) Responders Class-B EMT Operators local 911 service friend(s) or family