Do those really work? I’m thinking about getting one of those when my mom gets to that point in time when she would have to worry about those things. Do you think it’s worth it for me to get it when the time comes?
My mom had one, and accidentally set it off one day. The paramedics were at the front door in minutes, and made very sure there wasn’t a real problem before they left.
Of course, then there was the problem of my mom usually forgetting to wear the damn thing.
In Florida.
My neighbor called 911, she was having some kind of physical problem. Before the ambulance arrived, her son had taken her to the hospital. When the cops showed up, I told them she had left, they said they would have to break in through the window anyway. So they “opened” her window in went inside to search her apartment. Maybe that’s SOP in FL where I lived because of all the old timers down there?
Thanks, all, for the interesting answers and amusing stories.
ROFL :eek: 
They’re great. My elderly aunt had one (she’s since gone to a retirement home) when she was living alone after her husband died. She is terribly arthritic, and falls were her biggest worry, so she wore the thing like a necklace whenever she wasn’t in bed.
One day, she pressed the button to show me how it works - this is okay, as the monitoring people actually ask them to do this every now and then to test it. The phone rang within seconds.
“Good morning Mrs Moss. Are you okay?”
“Yes, thank you. I’m just testing the device.”
“That’s fine. Thank you and have a good day.”
She told me that if she didn’t answer the phone, then they call a nominated relative to go and check the house. In this case, it is her son, who lives in the next street. If there is nobody nominated, I guess they just skip this step. If the person doesn’t answer the phone, they don’t hang about trying.
Then they send an ambulance.
My aunt was extremely impressed by the system, but she told me it doesn’t come cheap.
My personal anecdote would support this.
I called 911 last Friday night from my cell phone to report a blacked-out car stalled in the middle of a poor-visibility freeway transition ramp. On the first three attempts I got a busy signal. The fourth time I got through, but was put on hold for a while. I was watching the clock, and 7-8 minutes elapsed from the time I passed the car until I actually spoke to a dispatcher.
I wasn’t too surprised when he told me they were aware of it and had a unit on the way - hell, the dude was probably on scene by that point. I felt that I had to persist, though, just in case they somehow didn’t know yet.
FWIW, I actually did call 911 yesterday. I came across a car accident on my way home from work. It looked like it just happened- both drivers were just exiting their cars, one crying, and it was blocking a major street. I was 2 miles as the crow flies from the Golden Gate Bridge onramp- the closest proper freeway, and I was routed directly to the SFPD emergency line.