5 Types of Alarms to Keep Elderly People Safe at Home

The movement for “ageing in place” holds that older people should be able to stay in their own home as long as possible, with the help of supports, if needed. These supports can take various forms, including:

• Help with maintaining the home
• Help with meals
• Help with personal care, such as bathing
• Home modifications, such as railings in the bathroom
• Alarms and other technologies

In fact, several types of alarms can be used to keep older people safe in different ways – whether the older person lives independently or is visited by a carer. In this blog post, we’ll look at the types of alarms that are available and what they can do for elderly people.

Burglar alarms

When an older person lives alone, you’ll naturally want to make sure they’re protected from someone breaking into their home. A burglar alarm can both protect an elderly person in the event of a burglary, deterring opportunist burglars looking to go unnoticed. It provides peace of mind so that they’re not kept up at night worrying whether they’re safe.

A wide variety of burglar alarms are available, so you can choose one that fits your needs and budget. You may want to consider burglar alarms that work together with other “smart home” devices – or perhaps simpler types of alarms are just fine.

Fire and carbon monoxide alarms

It goes without saying that fire and carbon monoxide alarms are a must for any person’s home. However, it’s even more important to ensure that they’re working perfectly in an older person’s home if the older person has weaker hearing, eyesight or sense of smell and may not detect a fire starting on their own.

This alarm is also essential for the homes of older people in the early stages of dementia. These seniors can be at risk of making mistakes in the kitchen like starting a pot cooking and then forgetting about it.

Fall detection alarms

All older people should be aware of the risk of a “long lie.” This is when an elderly person falls to the floor and is unable to get up for at least one hour, and it can be very dangerous and have serious health consequences.

The answer to avoiding a “long lie” is a fall detection alarm. These types of alarms can sense when their wearer falls and call for help automatically, even if the alarm wearer is unable to press any buttons on the alarm – for example, if they are unconscious.

Ideally, fall detection alarms are waterproof so that they can be worn in the shower. This is because many falls occur in the slippery environment of a bathroom or shower. They can come in the form of a pendant or appear like a smart watch. Either way, the best fall detection alarms will allow a person to speak through the alarm to the contact who has been called for help. This means an older person can receive comfort and reassurance immediately, even while help is still on the way.

Many health conditions raise the risk of falls in the elderly. This includes:

• Conditions like arthritis that make movement difficult
• Cardiovascular conditions like high blood pressure, which can lead to health events like heart attacks and strokes
• Epilepsy – as fall detection alarms will also detect that a senior has fallen to the floor because of a seizure.

However, since a “long lie” is so dangerous for the elderly, and falls can happen to anyone, fall detection alarms are a good choice for any older person living alone.

GPS alarms

If you’ve obtained a fall detection alarm for an elderly loved one, it might be a good idea to get one that has a GPS functionality as well.

GPS alarms allow their wearer to be tracked outside of the home. This is important for many reasons. For example, if an older person needs help outside of the home for any reason, the GPS alarm can send their location to family and friends. For example, this could be great for an older person who was taking a walk around the neighbourhood and found themself feeling dizzy.

Also, if an older person is in early stages of dementia, they may become slightly confused or turned around. Again, the GPS functionality allows family to assist the older person with getting home. Many GPS alarms even have a “geo-fence” functionality that alerts family if the older person has gone outside a pre-set area. Likewise, this is helpful when an older person has dementia because it protects against their wandering or getting lost.

Bed alarms

There are several types of alarms that can be placed in the bed, but we’ll discuss two main ones here.

For older people who are at risk of tonic-clonic seizures during the night, an epilepsy bed alarm can be placed under the mattress to inform carers that a seizure is occurring. This alarm can detect the shaking movements of a tonic-clonic seizure.

Alternatively, seniors with advanced dementia may benefit from a bed alarm that alerts carers when they get out of bed at night. Elderly people with dementia are at risk of getting out of bed at night and wandering, sometimes getting into dangerous situations when a carer is not awake to see. This type of bed alarm simply detects when the older person has gotten out of bed, helping ensure that they stay safe at night.

Trusted, quality alarms from SureSafe

At SureSafe, our specialty is personal alarms for the elderly. That’s why we’re a market leader in providing highly rated personal alarms that are affordable and easy to use for seniors.

We offer a wide variety of types of alarms that can help protect older people, including GPS alarms, fall detection alarms and one-touch alarms. To discuss what type of alarm is best suited for you or an elderly loved one, feel free to give us a call on 0800 112 3201. You can also get in touch with us through our live chat or request a call back.