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NeedHelpWithMom- I hear you. Those commercials, especially that one drive me nuts. My mom fell this summer and was not wearing her Life Alert thingy and actually did lay on the floor for 3 hours and holler "help me I've fallen and I can't get up". Until one of her equally frail, tiny neighbors in her senior living , thank God had her hearing aids in and heard her and got help.
The one that gets me is for some home caregiver agency, I don't know which one, but it shows a lovely well maintained old home, near a lovely body of water and two doting adult children with their yet lovely, smiling mom. Then the narrator says something like " dad made us promise we wouldn't put mom in a nursing home". I'm not a fan of the deathbed promise- so guilt inducing. Yeah if we could have kept mom independent longer I sure would have. But I was her vesion of assisted living. She there for reals now. I guess there's just no good way to make a commercial about these topics. I do like some of the sassy incontinence garmet ones thought, they at least have a modicum of dignity. And youngish, dancing incontinet folks ejoying their freedom. Oh and the Hurri-cane, flexible cane thingy. I fell for that and ran right out and got her and my husband one. They both hated them. For Christmas my son got my mom some sort of egg crate cushion which she LOVES. Her only and favorite grandson bought it. Just today I'm a sucker for senior products that make their lives easier. Shopping used to be so much fun. Not anymore!
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Sendhelp, I don’t think Needhelpwithmom was having a panic attack, just being realistic. She is not turning into her Mother either.
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NHWM,
Will this help you?
Your body may be setting up to have a panic reaction without your mind and emotions even thinking about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7KQsS2kLM4
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Yes, I've seen them and they are disturbing. They might be true, but, are playing on people's fear of protecting a senior.

There is one out there about promising mom to never make her leave her home.....
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They certainly do give off a "feel" of frantic-ness, at least to me.

In my 'world' both MIL and mother wear these. When they fall, and they do, and the alarm goes off, not ONCE has anyone on the 'call list' responded to help. And in mother's case, she LIVES in the same house as 4 of the 5 'first responders'.

Either the alarm is not loud enough or the person is not aware of what THEY need to do to activate the system. Mother can't make herself 'known' to the dispatcher, and MIL is so deaf you have to scream at her to get her to hear. She recently fell, set off the alarm, the dispatcher is trying to talk to her, the phone calls to DH and his sister are employed and then finally 911. It wasn't until she wandered into her kitchen and saw a firefighter readying himself to break her plate glass window to get in that she even had a clue as to what was going on. She still doesn't--but then this is a woman who thinks her burglar alarm system actually sends out some kind of powers to keep burglars away from her house.

So--maybe they work and maybe they don't. Imagine my YB's embarrassment when he finally goes to the door and meets the EMT's who showed up to lift mom off the floor, when there are 7 people living in the same house. They did tell him he would be fined, if this kept happening.

They are better than nothing, I guess. But the person wearing one has to be able to remember to wear it, not send it through the washer & dryer (it will go off) not bang it into their walker....not take it off if your're going to soak in the tub and put it so far from the tub you can't activate it if you can't get out of the tub.

Dolly mentioned about an 'under the skin' tracker like the put on pets. Maybe someday that will be the way to go. In 'my life' the life alerts have not been helpful at all.
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NHWM,
Of course it is going to bother you, because you have lived it, and you still worry about your Mom's welfare.
But you are going to need to take a big break from even thinking about this.
Stop watching the commercial, and get up to vacumn the floors. imo.

Putting this under "Care Decisions" was perfect, a perfect topic.

Try not to beat yourself up NHWM. Giving up care to others does become necessary, many times. You were going to be tortured either way. It is your Mom's illness, not you.

Treat yourself better, by not becoming like her, imo.
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I’m bothered by the constant phone calls multiple times a day on my cell phone & land line for these life alerts. I’ve been getting them for over a year now & they just don’t stop! They even spoof their phone # so it looks like a local call.
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Me, hate the drama and how they affect many of the viewers.

Talk about needs, I have always thought that a tracker could be put right under ones skin, IMO this would be a real asset in locating those with dementia. Here in Florida, we are always looking for a senior who is lost! I imagine that someone is
working on this idea, it would be a big money maker.
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Sorry, meant to put this under products not care decisions.
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