Which bed alarms are the best?
Bed alarms are mats that can be placed under the mattress pad that can transmit an audible alert when a person gets up from the bed. The Alzheimer's Store sells a wireless one with the following instructions: "Place this pad underneath your loved one in bed and set the alarm. The second they get up, an alarm will sound both at bedside and at the remote alarm location (typically located in the caregiver’s room). Great for persons at risk of wandering or falling. Allows the caregiver to by-pass alarm for assisted visits to the bathroom, etc." Here is the link:
http://store.nexternal.com/ageless/bed-pad-with-wireless-remote-alarm-p226.aspx
At some point in the future, you may wish to augment a bed alarm with motion-activated lighting, some sort of bed rail assist to standing and grab bars in the bathroom. You also can extend safety precautions further with room-based sensor systems, sometimes called remote activity monitoring, in which you combine various room and/or bed sensors to alert caregivers. For more discussion about remote monitoring, see:
http://www.ageinplacetech.com/content/monitor-person-or-place
I stumbled up this company that sells fall prevention alarms. Their alarms and pads come with a long warranty and they are very durable. I have used several fall prevention products in my facilities. They are generally cheap and have short lives. Check out this website, www.nursealarmsystems.com
The bed alarm that is available through Simply-Home has the capability to not only alert your sister that your mother has gotten out of bed during the night but keeps a record of how often and for how long she has gotten out of bed. In addition, you can install a whole range of other sensors that can monitor notify her throughout the day of your mother's activity level, medications, vital signs, etc. This type of system is especially useful when the caregiver is not at home all the time and the loved is alone at times during the day. The notifications are completely customizable and can go out through email, text message or phone call. For more information log on to ( http://www.simply-home.com/
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