Emergency response at hand

PERSONAL emergency response services provide a level of security for clients who want to stay living in their home by providing a monitoring response service all day, every day.
Peninsula Health MEPACS is an emergency response service which monitors its clients every day of the year.
“When a client signs up to the service, they advise us of up to four contacts who are people that live within 30 minutes, who could assist them in an emergency,” MEPACS manager Anne Goddard said.
MEPACS offers its clients two forms of monitoring through the 24/7 monitoring centre, emergency alarm monitoring and daily calls.
For emergency alarm monitoring, clients wear the pendant round their neck or wrists, preferably at all times, even in the shower as the pendant is fully waterproof.
Wearing the pendant allows clients to summon help without using their phone.
When a client presses their pendant button, MEPACS phones them back to assess what type of help they need.
“Our aim is to call back in less than two minutes,” Ms Goddard said.
MEPACS staff are able to speak with clients using a voice-to-voice feature of the alarm base unit.
“This capability is important if clients cannot get to the phone, such as after a fall,” Ms Goddard said.
Depending on the emergency, the monitoring team asks one of the nominated contacts to attend to the client.
“Or if the matter required medical attention, emergency services are called to attend,” she said.
In addition to emergency monitoring, clients can choose the option of a daily call welfare check.
“Every day each client sends us a signal between 6am and 11am from the alarm base unit to advise they are OK,” Ms Goddard said.
“If MEPACS don’t receive the signal, we contact the client during that day to confirm they are OK.”
If they don’t answer, a nominated contact person is asked to check on the client’s welfare.
“MEPACS clients and their families tell us that this daily welfare check provides them with valued reassurance,” she said.
Information on the service is available from local councils and community health services.
Readers can also visit www.mepacs.com.au or call MEPACS on 1800 451 300 to arrange a demonstration.