Like many families, Mary and her brother Steven were looking for ways to ensure that their 87-year-old father, John G. from Kenner, LA, could safely age in place. Fortunately for them, they found Medical Guardian, which provides affordable and reliable medical alert systems to seniors and a powerful peace of mind to their loved ones.
Last year on May 3, John’s daughter Mary talked to Life Safety Consultant Robin Sargent, who recommended our Home Guardian medical alert device for John so he could stay protected both in and around his home. Round-the-clock protection is guaranteed with all of our products, but neither John nor his relatives could ever imagine that he would experience delayed pains to a fall.
At 12:02 pm on January 31, 2016, one of our trained emergency operators Collette received an emergency alarm from John’s Home Guardian base station. Collette then spoke with John’s daughter Kathy, who explained that John actually fell outside of his home the day before. At the time, John didn’t feel like he had any injuries due to the fall, but now he was experiencing a lot of pain and needed immediate medical attention. Since Kathy could not lift him up to take him to the hospital herself, she used her father’s medical alert system to call for help.
Collette immediately sprung into action, and after contacting the EMTs, Collette then called Kathy back to notify her that the EMTs would arrive at her father’s home in a few minutes. Kathy was so grateful to hear that her father would receive the immediate help he needed, and thanks to Medical Guardian, John’s injuries were treated in no time.
Fast Facts on Falls
As the real customer story outlined above shows, just because you don’t feel the effects of falling immediately after the accident doesn’t necessarily mean that you didn’t suffer any injuries. It’s actually not completely uncommon for injuries resulting from a fall to surface a few hours, or as shown above, a full 24 hours later. Whether you experience pain immediately or hours later after falling, the key is seeking immediate medical attention so your injuries can be treated right away.
Just like it’s not commonly known that there can be lasting effects of a fall, there are other misconceptions out there concerning elderly falls. Below are some of the facts:
- For those 65 years or older, falls are the leading cause of injury-related deaths, nonfatal injuries, traumatic brain injuries and hospital trauma admissions.
- The most common fractures that follow a fall are spine, hip, forearm, leg, ankle, pelvis, upper arm and hand fractures.
- 80 percent of those who fall cannot get up without assistance.
Experiencing a fall, or any other medical emergency, in your own home is certainly a quite jarring experience, but luckily with Medical Guardian, you’ll always be able to receive help with the simple push of a button!
