As long-time providers of alert devices, SureSafe has developed a clear philosophy about what our customers need. We know that our medical alerts must provide a simple and reliable way to call for help in an emergency. But we also know that that isn’t always enough. Alert devices need a feature that triggers an alert if a user faints or falls to the ground and can’t press a button to call for assistance because they’re unconscious.

This feature is called automatic fall detection. And while some alert providers consider this an extra add-on feature, we don’t – we believe it’s essential for each and every customer.

What is automatic fall detection so important, and why do we include it at no extra charge in all of our alert devices? Read on to learn more.

When might an alert wearer need fall detection?

Let’s talk about the standard features in an alert device – whether that’s a medical alert for seniors, a lone worker alarm, or dementia tracker.

Most medical alerts are body-worn devices such as pendants that have an SOS button – a button that can be pressed and held to call for help. That way, an alert wearer can call for help even when their cell phone isn’t at hand or when they’re too unwell to handle dialing a phone. When someone is feeling unwell or needs assistance urgently, saving time this way can make all the difference.

Yet sometimes alert wearers experience emergencies where they can’t even press a simple button to get help. Some main instances of this include a person:

Falling and getting knocked unconscious
Experiencing a heart attack and falling to the floor unconscious
Dropping to the ground because of a seizure that takes a couple of minutes and leaves them confused afterward.

In these cases, the person needs their device to sense that they’ve fallen and send out a distress call all by itself. And that’s exactly what alerts with fall detection are designed to do.

How does fall detection work?

At SureSafe, our alerts have three different sensors to detect the movements of the alert wearer. These are:

A sensor that detects changes in air pressure, which can happen when a person rapidly drops down
A sensor that assesses changes in speed of movement, such as when a person who was walking suddenly stops moving because they’ve fallen
A sensor that notices the jolt of an impact, such as when a device strikes the floor after a fall.

These devices include an algorithm that takes the information from these three sensors and uses it to make a judgement – has the alert wearer fallen? If the answer is yes, the medical alert will make a call for help all by itself.

As you can imagine, no fall detection system can detect 100% of falls. That’s partly because an alarm that’s tuned too sensitively would start to register smaller movements as falls, too.

But fall detection is still a crucial system that offers a second layer of protection when an alert wearer is unconscious. It’s a backup plan that we consider a must-have for anyone who’s alone and vulnerable – and we’ll explain why.

Why is fall detection so important?

There are several reasons why fall detection is crucial.

Fast assistance

The first one is that in emergencies, getting help fast really matters. In medical emergencies, it’s often true that seconds count. For example, someone who has suffered an injury may be losing blood. And with a blow to the head that causes a brain injury, brain tissue could be damaged more as a person continues to go without treatment.

So, there may not be time to wait for a person to regain consciousness after a fall and a knock to the head. Indeed, the person might not regain consciousness at all.

Help for people who are alone

Another is that our alarms are often used by people who are alone – such as lone workers or seniors who live by themselves. In these situations, the person’s distress may go totally unnoticed until it’s far too late.

There are too many tragic cases of lone workers who weren’t even registered as missing or unresponsive until hours after an accident. And the same applies to seniors who fall, especially if it’s during the night.

Peace of mind

A third reason is the peace of mind that fall detection offers to alert wearers and those who care about them. Family members of elderly people may worry that their older relatives could fall unconscious and be without help. But fall detection offers reassurance that there’s a plan in place to get assistance if that happens.

Likewise, managers of lone workers can feel better knowing that fall detection is there to trigger an alert for lone workers who’ve experienced accidents in retail stores, farms, or construction sites.

Help for people with dementia

So far, we’ve talked about instances of falls when a person is unconscious. But sometimes, people may be conscious after a fall but still unable to call for help. And that’s a key risk for seniors with dementia.

An older person with severe dementia is more likely to fall because they can’t understand their environment correctly. For example, seniors with dementia may look at a dark rug on the floor and think it’s a hole.

But a person with severe dementia might also be unable to remember that they’re wearing an alert device or how to use it. They could end up injured and stuck on the floor, unable to get up and not knowing how to call for help. This can even happen if family members are in the same home but just in a different room or sleeping.

Here, automatic fall detection steps in to protect seniors with dementia and get them help when they can’t ask for it on their own.

Help for people who are experiencing confusion

In a similar way, people without dementia can fall because they’re experiencing confusion or disorientation. They may end up on the ground but unable to think through the process of pressing an SOS button.

When might this happen? Well, it’s known that people can start to experience confusion and disorientation from heatstroke. Medication side effects can also cause confusion, particularly for seniors. And elderly people are actually more prone to having mild seizures that leave them confused or disoriented for hours afterward.

In short, we can’t assume that someone who isn’t unconscious is fully alert and able to think clearly. There’s a wide gray area of confusion that can happen for people who are experiencing a medical incident or crisis, and these people need automatic fall detection too.

Get peace of mind with automatic fall detection from SureSafe

Turning on automatic fall detection on each of our devices costs us nothing. That’s just one more reason why we believe it should be included as standard in the monitoring price and not as an extra.

With the combination of a simple SOS button and automatic fall detection, our customers are protected in a wide range of emergency scenarios.

What’s more, our devices offer GPS tracking, too. This is another feature that works great with automatic fall detection to put even more protection in place for vulnerable people. With GPS tracking, an elderly person who falls while walking the dog or a delivery person who trips on a sidewalk can be located fast after their automatic fall detection sends out a distress call.

At SureSafe, we also give you the choice of 24/7 monitoring or family monitoring on your device. That just means that you can choose to send the medical alert’s emergency calls to your own phone or to a dedicated response center. If you live just down the street, family monitoring can be a fantastic choice for you.

Alternatively, if you’re worried about emergencies that might happen while you’re sleeping or unable to answer your phone, 24/7 monitoring from a response center could be the perfect choice. It’s your call – you can pick what’s best for your loved one or business.

If you’d like to know more about our alert devices, whether they’re for seniors, for lone workers, or for people with seizures, we’re here to talk. Just use our contact form, call us at 888 540 7193, or email [email protected]. Alternatively, you can try our live chat or request a call back.