Frequently Asked Questions
- Do I Need a Medical Alert System?
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Q: How many people actually fall?
A: More than one third of adults 65 and older fall each year in the United States (Hornbrook et al. 1994; Hausdorff et al. 2001). In 2005 15,800 people 65 and older died from injuries related to unintentional falls; about 1.8 million people 65 and older were treated in emergency departments for nonfatal injuries from falls, and more than 433,000 of these patients were hospitalized (CDC 2005).
Q: What are the main consequences of falls?
A: Twenty percent to 30% of people who fall suffer moderate to severe injuries such as bruises, hip fractures, or head traumas. These injuries can make it hard to get around and limit independent living. They also can increase the risk of early death (Alexander et al. 1992; Sterling et al. 2001). The most common fractures are of the spine, hip, forearm, leg, ankle, pelvis, upper arm, and hand (Scott 1990). Many people who fall, even those who are not injured, develop a fear of falling. This fear may cause them to limit their activities, leading to reduced mobility and physical fitness, and increasing their actual risk of falling (Vellas et al. 1997).
Q: 911 is free. Why should I pay you for the same service?
A: First of all… to call 911 you need a phone.
In an emergency our ability to think clearly goes down rapidly. With a Medical Alert System, you just press a button in the pendant. And with the MediPendant, you are able to speak and listen through the wearable pendant itself, giving you unprecedented safe mobility around the home.
If you don’t have a Medical Alert System and rely on calling 911 yourself, you should consider:
- What if you can’t get to a phone
- or if you misplaced your cordless phone?
- What if this happened in the shower? Is your phone water resistant? Our pendants are!
It’s not the same service. When you call 911 they just want to know if the call is due to is Fire, Police or Medical and they dispatch the proper service. Calling 911 (Emergency dispatching) is just one of the things we do.
Many times you DON’T want an ambulance to come to your door. You may just want your spouse, son, daughter, friend or neighbor to come and give you a hand. Calling 911 will not do that.
Sometimes you may feel hesitant to call 911 because you are not sure if you want an ambulance, you may be embarrassed with your neighbors to have an ambulance again, for the third night in a row, when all you needed is help getting up.
You may just want to talk your situation over with somebody. We may call your doctor and conference him in.
We also stay involved with you until help arrives. We can inform the dispatcher of any updates in your condition. Calling 911 doesn’t do that.
In other words, you get what you pay for.
- Regarding Your Service
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Q: How does your service work?
A: In an emergency – or if you just suspect one – simply push the button on the wearable pendant and the system communicates with our Call Center using a phone line in your home. One of our highly trained EMT-Certified operators will quickly take your call. If you sign-up for a MediPendant plan you will be able to talk through the MediPendant (wherever you are in your home even in your front yard, backyard or basement) and together with the operator assess the situation.
Q: What happens if I am not able to speak?
A: Once your pressed the button, the call is made to our Emergency Monitoring Center. If you are not able to speak the operator will dispatch an emergency right away.
Q: Who answers the call when the button is pressed?
A: An Emergency Medical Technician operator especially trained to provide on-call assistance will answer your call. All operators are bi-lingual and will stay involved until help arrives.
Q: Tell me about your Emergency Monitoring Center.
A: Our 24/7/365 Emergency Monitoring Center, located in New York State, is amongst the most advanced in the world.
From an infrastructure point of view, our Center has two independent backup power supply plants that can provide electricity to all of our building for two full weeks in case the power grid is damaged by a disaster.
We also have double backup from different carriers for our telephone lines.
Our courteous operators are certified Emergency Medical Technicians and are trained to go out of their way to help you, our customer, with your needs, and will quickly assess the situation and contact people in your customized call list (son, daughter, friend, neighbor) and/or send an ambulance.They will stay with you on the line until help arrives (the call will disconnect automatically after 5 minutes but you can press the emergency button again for another 5-minute session) and will be able to provide live updates to the emergency personnel being dispatched.
We also have many bilingual (English and Spanish) operators to communicate better with our growing customer base.
And as a backup, we have trained our administrative personnel to jump-in and help field the calls in case of an unexpected peak in call volume.
Always thinking about the best way to serve you, we have invested heavily in top-of the line chairs, noise reduction headsets, noise reduction office panels, multiple monitors, adjustable height for desks, keyboards and monitors, in order to give our operators the most relaxing and noise-free atmosphere in which they completely focus on helping you when you call in.
Q: Will I pay for long distance calls?
A: No. The system dials a pre-programmed toll-free number.
Q: How many times can I press the emergency button on the pendant?
A: You can press the emergency button all the times you want. We’ll always take your call. However, if you sign up for the Basic Plan you have 10 emergency calls (press the button and communicate with an EMT operator) per month included in your plan. Additional calls will be charged at $2.50 per call. If you sign up for the Premium Plan there is no additional charge regardless of how many calls you place.
Q: What if I press the button by mistake?
A: You can always cancel a call by pressing the cancel button. If for any reason you don’t cancel the press button, one of our EMT operators will answer the call. You’ll just say that it was pressed by mistake and we’ll be happy to know that you are fine!
Q: What is your warranty?
A: Our Medical Alert Systems have Lifetime Warranty against malfunctioning.
Q: What if I lose or break my equipment?
A: If you signed up for one of our Premium plans you’ll get a replacement overnight, free of charge. If you signed up for one of our Basic plans you will need to purchase replacement equipment at current prices.
Q: What if I move? Can I take the service with me?
A: Absolutely. Your equipment is programmed to work from any working phone line, so we know who you are when you call. However, we need to know where you are in order to be able to dispatch emergency response personnel. So just call our 24/7 Customer Service Center at 1-877-755-1370 option 2 to let us know.
Q: Can I use a VoIP line instead of a regular phone line?
A: The service works at its best when it’s using with a regular phone land line. We have tested the service with many VoIP lines provided by cable companies and the results are great. But if your phone line or VoIP line is shaky and unreliable, your Medical Alert System may not be able to communicate with our Call Center.
Q: Will the Pendant work if I lose electric power in my home?
A: Yes, if you use a regular phone land line. Our Medical Alert Systems provide many hours of operation without power. However, if your phone line comes through an Internet provider your phone line may be unavailable and the Medical Alert System may not be able to communicate with our Call Center. If that’s your case we urge you to get a UPS system for your cable modem or router.
Q: Can we use another pendant for another person in the same home?
A: Yes. Just specify in your order that there is more than one person in your home. There’s an additional charge of $4 per month for each additional pendant.
Q: Do you have to send an ambulance every time I press the button?
A: No, we don’t have to. We will if the situation so requires. Our EMT operators will assess the situation with you and make a decision. Of course, if we get a call from your Pendant and we are not able to talk to you we will dispatch emergency assistance right away.
Q: In which cities and states do you offer your services?
A: In all 50 states of the United States of America.
Q: I don’t want an ambulance. I just want my daughter to come.
A: When you press the button on the Pendant we’ll establish communication with you. You can then ask us who to notify. If we have the contact information on file we’ll save precious time. Now, if when you press the button on the pendant our EMT operator cannot hear you, we’ll immediately dispatch emergency personnel (an ambulance) to your door.
Q: How will emergency personnel enter if the door is locked?
A: We also recommend you get a external lockbox that holds a key to your door from a hardware store (or purchase it from us) and/or have a copy by a neighbor to minimize possible damages.
Local emergency personnel are given the combination to the lockbox so they can quickly get a key to your home in the event of an emergency. Family members and friends can also use the lockbox so they can readily get a key to your home when necessary. We urge you to let us know about it at sign-up or later on when you decide.
But if there’s no such lockbox we were not able to establish communication with you the emergency personnel will break in the same way as if you would have called 911. If there are people with a key to your home, or a place where you keep a key outside, we urge you to let us know as soon as possible.Q: Who pays for the damage if the emergency personnel break a door to come in?
A: Emergency personnel are allowed to break in to help you and cannot be held responsible for damages. We recommend you get a key lock box from a hardware store and/or have a copy by a neighbor to minimize possible damages.
Q: Can information be changed later on?
A: Anytime, as many times as you need to. Just give us a call at 1-877-755-1370 and chose option 2 for our Customer Service Group.
Q: What are your hours of operation?
A: You can call us around the clock every day of the year with your Sales or Customer Service questions.
Q: How will I know if my system is working properly?
A: Our Emergency Monitoring Center connects every day or every week (according to your plan) with your equipment. If the connection was not made we will call you and notify you.
Q: What medical information will you have about me?
A: All the information that you have provided to us and only that. We protect your privacy within HIPAA rules and guidelines.
- MediPendant™
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Q: What is MediPendant™?
A: MediPendant™ is a new medical alert device that allows you to speak and listen directly through the pendant. Unlike most of the other medical alarm systems on the market today, the user speaks directly through the pendant to communicate with an Emergency Medical Technician at our Emergency Monitoring Center.
Q: What is the advantage of MediPendant™?
A: MediPendant™ enables the user to communicate directly through the pendant. There is no need to be near the base station. MediPendant’s™ two-way voice speakerphone technology has superior battery life and enhanced range enabling the user to communicate from virtually anywhere inside and outside the home.
Q: How long it takes to install the MediPendant™ ?
A: Between 2 and 3 minutes. It is very simple to install. Just install the battery, plug in the power cord and the phone jack. There are no additional tools required. Everything is color-coded for easy installation.
Q: Do you have to be near a base station to use the MediPendant™?
A: No. Unlike most medical alert systems on the market today, with MediPendant™ you communicate directly through the pendant. The user has much more freedom to move in and around the home.
Q: Why it’s so important to be able to Speak & Listen through the Pendant?
A: With most of our competitors, the only way you can talk with the operator is to be within 20-40 feet from the base station. Other than that, the operator at the remote response center will not be able to hear you and you will not be able to hear the operator. What the emergency response center will do in such a case is send an ambulance. That sounds ok, but the problem is that the emergency responders that come in the ambulance don’t know what they will find: a heart attack? A stroke? A person that fell? A diabetic attack? They many not know how to get into the home or where in the home to find you.
Therefore, the main benefit that we can offer with our product is that since the MediPendant™ allows you to talk and listen through the pendant, you will always be able to talk to the operator in the emergency response center and let them know if you have stroke symptoms, heart attack symptoms or if you fell. With this, the emergency response people will be able to prepare to what needs to be done.
The great benefit of all these is saving precious seconds and minutes.
Q: How far away can the MediPendant™ be from the base station and still work properly?
A: Users can be up to 600+ feet (depending on walls and other interference) from the base station. This gives the user incredible range when compared to other medical alarm systems. Upon getting yours, we urge you to do a Walk Through with us. That is, after the 2-3 minute install, press the button in the MediPendant™. That will place a call to the Emergency Monitoring Center. Then you walk around your home, go outside to the front yard, backyard and verify the unbeatable coverage that the MediPendant™ provides.
Q: How can I wear the MediPendant™?
A: Hanging around your neck, with a belt clip or on your wrist.
Q: What type of battery does the MediPendant™ use?
A: The pendant uses a Li123 battery that can be purchased at any local pharmacy or hardware store.
Q: What kind of battery life does the the MediPendant™ have?
A: The pendant has approximately 6+ hours of talk time and up to 1 year of standby time. By the way, we include an extra battery in the package.
- Payments
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Q: What are your payment methods?
A: We charge a monthly fee charged to a major credit card during the first 10 days of the calendar month. The fee covers service for that month.
Q: Are there any long term commitments?
A: No.
Q: Can I cancel my service?
A: You can cancel your service at any time by returning all the equipment to our offices. Call us at 1-877-755-1370 option 2 for return instructions.
Q: Can I upgrade or downgrade my plan?
A: Yes. It will go in effect for the next calendar month.
Q: When will I get my system?
A: In 4 to 6 business days for shipment include in price. For a flat rate of $18.95 we’ll expedite shipment and you will have it in 2-3 business days. If you need it tomorrow ask us for a custom shipping price.
