What is a medical alert (emergency response) system?

An Emergency Response System (medical alert system) is designed so that the person wearing it can summon help in an emergency.

The system typically consists of some type of a pendant or wrist-worn button. If the wearer falls over and hurts themselves, or has some other type of medical emergency (e.g. stroke, heart attack) they are supposed to press the button. In some products, the system has some type of built in intelligence and may be able to tell the wearer fell, and automatically summon help, without the need for them to actually press the button.

When the button is pressed the system sends out an alert. This alert can go to one of several places depending on the product. It might go straight to 911; or to a friend; or to a professional response center where there is a trained responder who can talk to the person having the emergency, decide how best to respond, and summon emergency services (911) if needed.

Who might want an emergency response system?

These systems are marketed heavily to older adults. They make sense for people who are likely to have an emergency, and spend a significant amount of time alone. Some people get them to reduce their anxiety about what might happen if they hurt themselves while alone.

Why do you need a course?

We have found over 50 products that fall within our definition of medical alerts. After quite a lot of Googling and hours of hands-on testing we have learned the following:

1. There are several fundamentally different types (we call them "flavors") of these products. This course clearly explains what these flavors are.
2. There is no such thing as a "best" product for all people. Rather, different types of people will benefit most from one or other of the different flavors of medical alert. One of the big reasons we think this course is useful is to help you figure out how to match the right flavor of emergency response system with the lifestyle of a particular individual.
3. There are very few (we found none) independent objective sources of information on the Internet to help decide which product to buy. Instead there are a lot of confusing and conflicting marketing claims. We are focused on doing independent and objective comparative analysis of these products, and this course contains some of that objective analysis.
4. There are a handful of very important "big decisions", which one needs to make before deciding which type of emergency response system makes sense for a specific person. It took us a while and a lot of thinking and testing to understand what those decisions are. We have tried to lay all that out clearly and concisely in this course.