Update: I have now got an alarm button on a neck chain. I’ve given the alarm company names of two friends living nearby who have keys to my house. When I rpess the button, the alarm company are phoned and can contact my friends / local surgery / emergency services as required.
They test the system every month and I’m much reassured by them.
glee, is that a commercial service, or one offered by your local county?
I ask because Dutch city councils are now responsible for letting elderly live longer at home: its cheaper then funding old folks homes, and most people want to live home longer, anyway.
But I could see how the city council’s department of Social Work might want to operate and hand out a system lime that, if they could do so more cheaply, reliably and better integrated with local social services.
my suggestion for those living alone: drink some water in the morning before you eat a leftover donut so you don’t choke to death.
Is this the kind of device that can [try to] detect a fall? Because if you fall and are knocked unconscious, you’ll never have a chance to press the button.
This is a company set up and run by a local Council.
There is a cost to buy the equipment and a monthly charge (but it’s not much.)
You have to press the button.
Hopefully I would do so in the act of falling (since that’s what I think about when e.g. climbing stairs.)
No, absolutely not. All your focus will be on trying to stop your fall/grab a handrail/protect your person. It happens so fast, you won’t have a chance to press the button. Look into the sensor kind. I’ve also heard (I think on the Dope) that phone apps can do this now.
Apparently, the Apple watch and similar fitness devices to wear on your wrist, now come with functions to detect falls and contact help. Use Fall Detection with Apple Watch - Apple Support
That could be a solution. Especially since there is no stigma to wearing an fitness tracker.
It’s a large, heavy watch. It wouldn’t be suitable for my elderly mom. She might be frailer than most, however.
I climb + descend stairs with one hand on the handrail and the other on my alarm button.
If I trip, one quick press of the button, then put my hand out to break my fall.
I firmly believe that if my attention is on pressing the button, I will do so.
I’m getting a smart watch. I have had a coupla health issues this past few months. And I am scared enough that I’ve upgraded to full Borg mode. Attached devices to my body. A new dedicated cel phone. A wi-fi enabled phone. I already had a panic button. I’ve used it fairly recently, worked perfectly. My DIL who is in charged of my freakin’ whole life now has been on-the-case. I feel safer now. Peace of mind is a great thing. I know nothing is fool-proof and I need to stay on top of keeping these devices close to my person. So far, so good.
It also requires charging pretty much every day, right?
While the concept is great, compliance might be a problem.
Ugh. I ended up in the hospital again. At least I knew about the concierge services Robert Wood Johnson hospital has for things like pets (didn’t need it - set out a giant bowl of food before I took a TAXI to the hospital). And my mailman knows me and after ineffectively trying to use my phone to set up a mail hold, a simple phone call to my post office did the trick. Sigh Way too much to deal with when your body is falling apart. 
This is one of the best reasons to still have a landline. Many/most police depts will investigate a 911 hangup or otherwise open line if possible. If it comes in from a landline they have an address to respond to. A 911 call, either a hangup or an open line & an open door (not just unlocked but open, even a bit) is enough to warrant (without a warrant!) a search of the house. If you’re choking & can’t speak at least press a button on the phone when they answer; your ‘silent’ communication would warrant a more urgent response. Depending upon the PSAP (911 call center) you might be able to communicate the problem with a beep or two in response to their questions.
Are you in danger? Press once for yes.
Is there someone in the house you’re hiding from?
Are you having a medical emergency?
This could also help when you feel a stroke coming on. Call 911 and say you feel funny, and ask them if they are willing to stay on the phone with you for five minutes max, to see if you’re either okay, or losing consciousness. If you are having the symptoms of a stroke (and for gods sake, look those up!) then the time between “do ething’s not right” and losing consciousness and speaking ability is about 2 minutes.
That is how my sister ended up finding out that our mother had died in her bed. My sister lives next door to where my mom lives. For two days she hadn’t heard from my mother, and she saw that my mother’s bedroom light was staying on the whole time.
She went in and found her dead. Apparently our mother died shortly before going to sleep, tucked in bed.
Many home alarm systems can be setup with a simple motion sensor. The good ones will create a log report of every motion and store the file on the interwebs for viewing. You can also write your own custom scripts, such as “If no motion detected in 24 hrs then…”.
In the case of my elderly in-laws, they are constantly disabling their own internet connection by senior fumbling nearly once a week…“Son, I’m borrowing the neighbor’s phone because I lost my phone charger again…the Tivo rewind got stuck, so I think I logged out but HBO won’t work now, so I unplugged everything. What does the blinking blue light on the box thingy mean again?”
Internet is the least reliable means of tracking them. I’m looking into an alarm system that can do 4/5G phone instead to upload the data.
I hope it is okay to bump this thread to see if anyone knows any new solutions to this problem. For most of us, the problem likely still exists.
As for me, I am still wearing an Apron Phone when I’m about the house; its become habit. My old dad of 88 even got an apron too to have all his stuff in there, like a “body office”. He feels it is a solution that offers more space then the typical fishing jackets with many pockets that many old gentlemen wear.
Those pockety vests also exist for women.
I also rented out a spare room to a Chinese student. I get the rent, and she is the nices, quietest most considerate roommate anyone could want.
I also got a fiancé and I’m spending half the week at his house, but that is another story. 
I also learnt of these two ways to have a phone on your person at all times. One is a stretchy transparent wrist cuff that holds the phone to your wrist, like this. https://www.awesomeinventions.com/shop/phone-wrist-wallet/
There’s also a version combined with a stretchy short. Leg wallets, they’re called. Example
There are also infinity scarves with a phone pocket built in.
I live alone and just a couple weeks ago, I was standing on my top (of just 3) step to go outside, encouraging my dogs to go out between thunderstorms. One of the dogs hit me from behind and I fell off the step and bashed my head hard on an exposed gas pipe. I wasn’t knocked out, but stunned and slow to get up. I ended up with a small concussion, a black eye and headaches for a good long while. It could easily have been so much worse.
StG
Yeah. You learn the hard way. And as I’ve gotten older (60 now) you just don’t recover as fast. While I always now carry my cell phone, I don’t do anything remotely dangerous unless my wife is home. Had to drill some holes while on ladder in the loft from inside to outside for Starlink dish. Not THAT tricky, but I waited until my wife was home.
Mounting the dish on house is next weekend. That’s actually gonna be pretty safe, but there is so much snow still here I had no safe place to put ladder. I decided not to risk that, but got on tractor to clear some snow away so now I have a place to set ladder. It’s only an 8 foot climb to get on roof, but still…
It’s usually the stuff you don’t expect that breaks your ass.