Are you considering a PERS or Medical Panic button system for your mother or grandmother? Get the facts first.
This is my mother and a week an a half ago she fell down in the bathroom and this time she pushed her medical button that I installed and it called the monitoring station who in turn dispatched the Fire Department. She was afraid they would break her door down but we told her not to worry about that. The last time she fell she was on the floor for 30 min and did not want to push the button. Now she is in a rehabilitation center and will move to an assisted living center since she cannot be alone. Some fire departments will let you put a metal keybox on the outside of your home like the ones they have for businesses where there is a house key inside that box and only the fire department has the key to that box.
My mother had fallen down so I installed a simple security system that has a push button that notified the monitoring station. They in turn call back to see if the alarm was a mistake and if they don't reach anyone they call emergency services. The panel can also call pagers or phones as well. The monitoring service is $26.95 per month and if you have a high supervision cell unit that dials out every 5 minutes then that is an extra $30 per month. The concern is the equipment because many companies take advantage of older people and make them sign long term contracts which our company does not do. We figure if we are providing a good service you will stay with us and if you loose your job or no longer want our services we allow you to cancel before the next billing quarter. Many security companies charge you $2,500 or more to get out of your five year contract and we do not.
Let me be clear when talking about security equipment, it is just like CARS. When someone asks me how much a security system costs I tell them about $100 dollars per point installed. This is an OK answer but if you go to a car lot and ask "How much does a car cost?" The answer will depend on what year, what make, model, the features etc....The same is true with systems. If you just get one button the price is different, if you get the system where you have a two way radio device so the dispatchers can talk to you the cost is higher, when you get the high supervision cellular system in case the phone lines drop or get cut the price is more. Plan on about $30 per month for the cellular bill, $26.95 per month for monitoring so a dispatcher will answer and handle the alarms, plan on about $500 for the system, $200 for the installation and then you can pay for add ons. This is a security system so you can have low temp sensors on it in case the house or building drops below a certain temperature, you have security motion detectors, contacts, glass break sensors, smoke detectors, CO detectors, GAS detectors and the list goes on and the more devices you add the more it will cost. When you compare one company to another you want to look at long term contracts, how much they charge for service etc....Can you reach them on the phone or do you have to leave a message and wait days for a call back?
When you compare apples to apples then you will be able to make an informed decision. What do you get when you hire a monitoring center? The dispatchers will receive signals from your system night or day and then call emergency services and your family to notify them that you have pushed the button. When my mother fell I got a page and the central station called me. I told them to dispatch the Fire Department and they told me they already had but were just informing me about it as well so I met her at the Emergency Room. I was also able to speak with the paramedic on site to let him know some of her medical history. Some of the systems can even remind you when to take your medicines. Shop around and compare prices because our low price of $26.95 per month includes the panel tied to a normal phone line. For $400 more the system can be tied to dial out over the Internet. Cell backups run from $160 to $800 each depending on which one you have installed. Make sure the buttons you purchase are weatherproof so they can be worn in the shower. The one I put in my mothers home also had the 2 way radio option although she did not want to activate it. With today's security systems you can also arm the system while you are inside the home incase someone breaks a window or forces a door. You also want to keep the system as simple as you can because if it gets complicated it compounds the problems that someone is already dealing with.
So understand that many companies charge quite a bit more for these systems than other companies do so shop around and get a quality system but don't get ripped off and don't sign a long term contract. Most companies will let you sign a one year contract that has the option of you signing up again. Times out the monitoring fee to see what you will really be paying. Example: If they say the monthly monitoring fee is $62 per month then after 5 years that adds up to $3,720 and if the normal monitoring cost is around $27 per month without having to lease the equipment then you end up paying about $2,100 for the equipment and installation so paying over time does end up costing quite a bit more although for some people it is a good option since you don't have to pay $1,500 up front.
So I am not saying anything bad about other security systems or companies because most security companies have access to all the same equipment so the variable ends up being how much markup the put on the product and what they charge for labor. Some very large companies may take longer to get your system serviced if there is a problem and their labor rates may be quite high. This is something else you will want to compare when you buy a system. My company does not concentrate on residential systems but we install mostly commercial systems. We would be happy to answer any questions and give you pricing. If you have specific model numbers that always helps. I would avoid companies that use proprietary equipment that only they can get since getting service or additional parts could be an issue if that company were to go out of business.
Security Systems with medical panic buttons and temp sensors is a real boon when trying to make sure you are taking care of your loved ones that live alone. PERS systems are becoming more and more common. I would say that you can have a decent system installed that is not overkill and have it done for a reasonable price. Know that you will end up paying either now or later so if you need to lease the system and spread the payments out over a period of time understand that you will end up paying quite a bit more than if you buy the system outright.
So my mother is doing better and getting stronger but she will no longer be living alone so it is nice to know that she is not locked into her contract for security. She has been trying to cancel her Cable and Internet through Comcast and she said she cannot get through on the phone and she cannot access the email to get online access since her husband's email was used and she does not know the password and he has passed away. They would not let her cancel on the ONLINE Chat even though she provided them with the account number, phone number, name and address so it seems they don't want her to cancel even though she is moved into an assisted living center. So at least she does not have to worry about red tape when canceling her PERS Medical Panic Button System that we installed.
So PERS systems are not just HYPE and they are very useful and do work well when installed properly. The concern is that some companies give a bad name to the industry by overcharging for these types of products. Some of the companies charge over double what other companies charge for the same product. Granted there are companies that specialize in this type of system so they may have more knowledge in the field than I do so you may end up paying for their expertise and I would just tell you to be prudent and do your due diligence before you buy.
