Medical Alert: Automatic, daily telephone check-in service. Article: "Service Keeps Eye on Loved Ones", about Sentry Telecare.

SERVICE KEEPS EYE ON LOVED ONES

By Alex Middleton

The phone rings. It is the hospital. Paramedics have found your elderly father on the floor, where he had been for two days unable to reach the phone to call for help, unable to even move. This scenario is a child's worst nightmare. Unfortunately, this scenario is not just a bad dream; this situation occurs daily across North America.

According to the latest census reports, there are more than 35 million people living in North America who are over the age of 65. An increase in the number of elderly citizens means an increase in the number of people who have to worry about them. Baby boomers, people who were born in the years after World War II, can be expected to spend more time caring for their parents than they spent raising their children. Complicating this situation is the fact that approximately 11 million seniors live alone in Canada and the U.S. Gone are the days when families grew up together, lived together and worked together. A fluctuating economy and the ease of travel have meant that people go where the work is, even if this means leaving your family behind. Nowadays it is not uncommon for a child to be living in Dallas while their parents are residing in Toronto. This separation anxiety can cause stress for both the parents and the children, and this stress can be multiplied exponentially if the parents are senior and not in perfect health.

This was the situation Russ Matthews faced when he left Newfoundland. "When I moved to Calgary, my primary concern was for the health of my parents, who stayed in Newfoundland, I was especially worried about my father who suffers from diabetes. At night I used to lie in bed with my arm hovering over the phone wondering whether they were okay and whether I should call them to find out."

Eventually his parents relocated to Calgary, but this is not an option for many seniors who either cannot afford to move or are not willing to leave an environment that they are familiar with. This leaves many individuals in North America facing the same situation Russ initially experienced.

An article recently appeared in the "New England Journal of Medicine" which highlighted the potential problems faced by seniors who live by themselves. The authors of the article followed the activities of paramedics in the city of San Francisco and their involvement with elderly individuals who had been found in their homes after an extended period of incapacitation. A typical case occurred when paramedics were called to the home of a 78-year-old woman by a concerned neighbour, and found her on her bed where she had been for two days. She was dehydrated, and her lips had cracked and bled. After transporting her to a hospital she spent nine days in the intensive care unit and was then discharged to a skilled-nursing facility. With quick treatment, the loss of independence may not have been necessary.

The article concluded that individuals who spent extended lengths of time debilitated because of their inability to summon help suffered not only from unnecessary health complications but also commonly lost their ability to live independently. Another sobering statistic was the 67 percent morbidity rate for elderly individuals who had spent more than 72 hours incapacitated.

This study stresses the need for families and friends to monitor senior citizens vigilantly, especially those seniors who live alone, but this is not always possible or practical. The reality is that with escalating work and home responsibilities contact between parents and their offspring might occur only once a week. The cost of long distance telephone calls makes it difficult to call your family everyday. The advent of the Internet has helped to open up communication channels between some families but less than half the homes in North America have access to the Internet. So how does an individual who has concerns over the well being of their elderly parent stay in daily contact?

A caring businessman has recognized the need for a service that addresses these concerns without being either time consuming or overly expensive. Jon Constable has started up the first and only automated check-in telephone service in North America. The service is called Sentry Telecare, and the idea is that for a subscription fee of less than $12 dollars a month, a daily call will be placed at the subscriber's time of choice to their elderly parent. This call, which can be personalized, gives the recipient two simple options: press one and hang up, this signals that the individual is fine, or press two to request a personal contact from the subscriber. If there is no answer the system will notify the subscriber immediately so that the necessary action can be taken.

There is no question that there is a need for this service, but would the impersonal nature of a recorded message offend some seniors? Not to mention the fact that many elderly individuals might fear that their personal freedom is being eroded if they are made to wait by the phone all day.

According to Jon, the company has taken these concerns into consideration.

"We have taken several steps to personalize the Sentry Telecare service. Most notable is the provision that lets the contact person record the daily phone greeting that will be heard by the call recipient. This may be re-recorded each day, or as required, by using our toll-free phone service."

"As for being intrusive, we believe the service is less intrusive than the telephone system it uses to deliver the service. This is accomplished by affording the call recipient the opportunity to answer any one of up to ten telephone calls per day over as much as a six-hour period. This provision ensures that the recipient need not sit by the phone waiting for their daily call."

The subscriber obviously benefits from the peace of mind of knowing that they are in daily contact with their close relative. But does the recipient of the call benefit as well?

Jon believes so.

"Typically the person receiving the daily call benefits from the notion that someone cares and is watching out for them. The contact person typically benefits from knowing that a notification will be transmitted to them immediately should the person they care about request a contact or not respond to the daily phone-call in the manner that had been anticipated."

Nothing can prevent the fact that many elderly people will suffer from an ailment that will force them to spend there twilight years in a continuing care facility but Sentry Telecare is a service that may well be instrumental in prolonging the independence of a large segment of the senior population of North America. Ideally technology is supposed to make our lives easier and for a burgeoning segment of our population this service seems to do just that.