If you’ve followed our blog over the years at all, you know that we work hard to provide customers with security plans that fit their unique situations. Of course, this involves taking each customer’s property layout and security needs into account. Additionally, we must also think of who lives in the home. In particular, families living with senior citizens in their home often ask for suggestions for added security. Leaving elderly family members alone for several hours at a time can prove nerve-wracking to their loving, adult offspring. Every year, we help address these concerns with dozens of customers, each with their own unique security needs and expectations. In today’s post, we share how we can help you add senior citizen security in your own home.
First, we’ll show you how we can add both hardwired and remote wireless panic buttons to add tremendous security for your elder housemates. From there, we’ll discuss the installation of environmental sensors. These sensors create valuable alerts to weather-related emergencies in your home. Then, we’ll shift our focus to one of the industry’s latest and greatest innovations, the Alarm.com WellCam. This device provides truly unique senior citizen security. Therefore, we’ll spend a good amount of time exploring its many security offerings. Now, let’s dive in with a look at some important panic button options for your own home.
Portable medical panic buttons, such as this one by Interlogix, allow users to call for medical help without activating their alarm’s siren.
Panic Devices
A common risk that comes to mind when discussing senior citizen security is elderly falls. Nothing pulls on our heart strings more than the horror story of a loved one falling without quick access to help. The CDC points out that 1 in 4 Americans aged 65+ fall every year. Falls are also the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries for older Americans. Many turn to Personal Emergency Response Systems, or PERS, to help in the event a fall or any other medical emergency happens. When installed as part of a monitored security system, the panic buttons and medical pendants of the PERS ensure that help is never more than a push of a button away.
Panic devices, like most security system sensors, come in many forms. We can install both hardwired and wireless devices in important areas of any home. For example, we often install a panic button on the wall behind the bed. This button sends a signal for help to our central station without creating any blaring siren alerts. The central station will know that it is likely a medical emergency and be prepared to contact help.
In addition to stationary panic buttons, we also offer wireless medical panic buttons and pendants. These give users a portable means of calling for help that can stay on them anywhere in the home. Bathrooms are a major trouble area for slips and falls. We offer water resistant, portable panic buttons and pendants to offer extra safety and peace of mind for elderly homeowners. These devices work with any of our wireless security panels. They work especially well, however, when used with two-way voice monitoring, our next measure for improving senior citizen security.
Environmental Sensors
The first few tips we’ve given have revolved around improved safety in the case of a medical emergency. However, you’ll also want to know if something goes wrong in your loved ones’ homes that could affect them if the issue is not immediately addressed. Environmental sensors can help in many ways.
A freeze sensor, for example, can alert homeowners and their families if a heating system fails. Once the basement temperature gets too low, the sensor will activate. At that point, our central station will make phone calls to alert the homeowner and/or family of the situation. A flood sensor can create the same response when it detects water. This will allow you to quickly catch a burst pipe or water seeping in from outside. Environmental sensors can help save a home from damage. More importantly, they can help family members provide help before an issue threatens anyone’s health.
These sensors also work well paired with interactive alerts. Getting a phone call to alert you of a low temperature or flooding issue is helpful. However, if you are attempting to care for someone, a 24/7 connection to the environment in their home can be invaluable. An Alarm.com Smart Thermostat provides this exact service. This device allows you to see the temperature of a house at any given time. It’ll alert you if the house gets too cold or too warm, or if anything else out of the ordinary happens with the home.
Monitored smoke detectors, such as this one by System Sensor, create an important fire department dispatch to any fire-related emergency at your home.
Monitored Smoke and Fire Detection
As the National Fire Protection Association points out, people aged 65 or older are twice as likely to by killed or injured in a fire than the rest of the population. While we always prioritize adding monitored fire detection to any alarm system, the importance of this equipment grows substantially when taking senior citizen security into account. While many find this statistic shocking, it has clear reasons behind it. As homeowners get older, it gets harder to get out of the house in a timely fashion. Monitored smoke detection systems create an automatic response to a fire. This can save a life when precious seconds count!
Benefits of the Alarm.com Wellcam
The Alarm.com Wellcam represents the latest and greatest in both security and smart home equipment. In this section, we will share the benefits of adding this multi-faceted security device. We will begin by detailing a couple security-related features that this equipment provides. Understanding the Wellcam’s functions and benefits will help you determine how it could work for you. From there, we will discuss how the Wellcam interacts with Alarm.com’s Wellness alerts. Like the smart home products mentioned above, this device will create alerts to further inform you of loved ones’ activities around the home. Without any further ado, let’s look at a couple of the Wellcam’s security features!
Camera Look-Ins and Recorded Video
You may have guessed from this device’s name that it includes a camera. Indeed, the Wellcam includes a high-definition, 180-degree camera that allows anyone with the proper credentials to look into a home at any time. This allows family members to check in on any area of a home where this device is installed. Additionally, customers with an Alarm.com video plan also receive a full month’s worth of motion detection-based video clips stored in the cloud. Therefore, any incident caught by the camera will be available for later viewing. As an added feature, users can set up motion-based alerts that get sent live to your phone. These alerts can capture events such as residents of a home or caregivers entering and leaving the house. Next, let’s look at another security-based Wellcam feature.
The Alarm.com Wellcam adds an abundance of security and safety features to your alarm system.
Two-Way Voice Capabilities
In addition to recording video, the Wellcam creates a hands-free phone call between homeowners and connected Alarm.com accounts. A button on the Wellcam creates a call to authorized users’ Alarm.com apps on their phones. Likewise, people connected to the homeowner’s Alarm.com account can use a button within the app to create a phone call to a Wellcam device as well. This quick, hands-free communication can help you check in on loved ones quickly. Let’s say that you receive a video alert that shows a homeowner appearing to struggle walking down the hall. Now, you can immediately press the “call” button on the app and ask your loved one if everything’s okay. Now, let’s look at how this device ties in to the Wellness alerts described earlier.
Motion Detection for Additional Alerts
We discussed earlier how Wellness alerts use alarm sensors to track activity. The Wellcam also acts as a hub to gather and track expected user activity throughout the day. For example, a homeowner may walk down the hall in front of their Wellcam before 9am every weekday morning. If this does not happen, the Wellcam will create an alert. Likewise, someone walking through a room at an unexpected time or at excessive intervals can also trigger a notification. Therefore, an elderly homeowner moving back and forth through the house in the middle of the night will create an alert based on this activity. The way the Wellcam puts a set of “eyes and ears” in loved ones’ homes make it one of the most effective and unique security products on the market!
Putting it All Together and Creating Senior Citizen Security in Your Own Home
We hope that this post helps you see how we can aid your efforts in creating senior citizen security in your own home. Additionally, we also encourage you to contact us with any questions this post may raise for you. We will happily answer any and all of your security-related inquiries. Furthermore, we also invite you to take advantage of our free site survey program. We offer complimentary security audits and equipment quotes to both new and existing customers alike. While on site, we can address your existing security concerns. Additionally, we can make suggestions based on our own observation of your property as well.