Senior Citizen Alert
How To Choose Your Medical Alert Provider?
Choosing the right company to put your mind at rest and give your elderly family members peace of mind can be a tall order.
1. Take care of prepayment obligations – we have noticed some providers state there is no long term contractual liability but still insist on a 3 month (and sometimes up to 24) minimum sign-up. Always find out what your actual commitment is before you agree.
2. Remember the old adage that cheapest is not always best – and so it is when choosing a medical alarm system. Quality health care always comes at a price and good medical provision at prices seemingly below market rates should be regarded with caution. Even if a company has a recognized name or is endorsed by somebody famous, still exercise caution and remember that stars are paid with your money to stand in front of products and services.
3. Ensure you have a 30-day money back guarantee- any company these days that is confident in the delivery of its service will offer a trial period as standard. You should be able to try your new medical alert system without the risk of losing any money or being overly committed.
4. Make sure you choose a provider that does not outsource its monitoring center. Smaller providers in this market commonly outsource alert monitoring as most cannot afford to run their own facility. Management should be able to oversee the quality of service which is difficult when you have little control over third party operations.
5. Ensure you see real customer testimonials. It’s important to know what existing clients think of the service and how their health alarm system is working for them.
6. Enquire about the level of training and qualification of the operators. When there is an emergency you naturally want your loved one to be in the safest hands as possible. You want the benefit of qualified care professionals. Find out what training is provided.
All operators at LifeStation get at least 6 weeks of comprehensive training and ongoing education, training and improvement is part of the company’s service-based culture.
7. Is there 24/7 help-desk and technical support? This doesn’t include emergency calls but normal customer service hours. Most medical alert companies provide limited customer service timetables. Therefore, if you encounter problems with the service or equipment, there may be no one to call when you need to. Ensure your senior citizen’s alert company has a 24 hour support hotline as well as the monitoring service.
8. Ask them how much experience they have and how long they have been operating in the medical alert business. Health knowledge and care specialization is crucial to successful outcomes in this business. Ensure that your company is sufficiently experienced to deal with your crisis.
9. Does the service include replacement and repair of the alert systems. It is important to ensure that the fees you pay cover and damage or breakage to the equipment provided. You do want to have to face an unexpected bill when you already pay for the service. Lifestation customers get this included.
10. Is the alert monitoring center listed with Underwriter’s Laboratories (UL)? Standards in business are critical and the best monitoring facilities are approved by the UL for meeting their high standards. If you a considering an alert service that is not UL listed you would be well advised to remove them from your shortlist.
11. Is the system self-testing? Think how awful it would be if and when you needed to utilize your service and the console did not work of function correctly. That’s why Lifestation equipment sends a regular weekly signal to the call centre to confirm that your medical alarm system is still connected and working properly.
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