Supporting people who are elderly or frail to live independently, safely, confidently and happily in their own homes

The Situation

Mrs T is 106 years old and has been a Progress Lifeline customer for 12 years after her doctor recommended a lifeline service. As she lives alone, but still independently in her own home, she agreed that it would give her peace of mind to have a simple one-press lifeline alarm in case she had an accident or there was an emergency at home and she couldn’t get to her phone.

At 106, Mrs T is still active and independent and sees her daughter, friends and neighbours regularly. With company, she goes out to the shops, to church or to local groups.

Mrs T does now have poor mobility however and uses a walking frame to get around. She also requires hearing aids and has diabetes.

Carers attend three times a day to support Mrs T with preparing meals and to help her with showers and other daily activities.

The Progress Lifeline Solution

Mrs T was 94 when she first joined Progress Lifeline as she thought a one-press personal safety alarm might give her peace of mind as she was getting older. As the years have gone by, Mrs T’s diabetes diagnosis and hearing loss have meant that Progress Lifeline has continually reassessed her changing needs and have installed linked carbon monoxide and smoke alarms in her home. We’ve also provided Mrs T with an automatic falls sensor which she wears around her neck, in addition to the red button personal alarm which she wears on her wrist.

With her daughter living in Yorkshire, Mrs T is also supported by Progress Lifeline’s Emergency Home Response and assistive lifting service, so that one of our trained responders comes out to help Mrs T in the event of a fall, accident or emergency.

The telecare equipment is all linked to Progress Lifeline’s 24-hour response centre so that if a dangerous situation is detected in Mrs T’s home, such as smoke from a fire, unsafe levels of carbon monoxide, or a fall, then our response centre is automatically alerted by the telecare sensors (without Mrs T needing to press her button or call) and our operators send the appropriate help immediately. This could be the emergency services, a neighbour, doctor or carer, or our own Emergency Home Response service.

“Your emergency responders have come out a few times to help me. Once I got stuck in my chair and couldn’t get myself up to go to bed, and you’ve come to help me. Another time, I accidentally dropped my falls detector and you came round to check I was ok. I hadn’t heard the lady asking if I was alright on the Lifeline system as I didn’t have my hearing aids in, but when your responder got here, he was lovely and said he didn’t mind coming out as it was ‘better to know I was alright!’. If I hadn’t been ok, it would have been the next morning until one of my carers arrived, so it’s such a worthwhile service to have at my age.’”

Outcomes

The linked telecare sensors have been a welcome addition to Mrs T’s package of remote care from Progress Lifeline, as Mrs T’s hearing loss means that without hearing aids in, she can’t hear the smoke or carbon monoxide alarms sounding in her home, and with her poor mobility, she may be unable to get herself to safety without help. With our telecare sensors automatically alerting our response centre to unsafe situations at home, Mrs T knows that we will send help to the property immediately.

Mrs T’s age, increasing frailty and diabetes condition means that she is more susceptible to falls. The automatic falls detector has been invaluable in alerting the response centre when Mrs T has fallen, allowing us to send help immediately, or call an ambulance quickly, to save further injury from long waits for help.

Mrs T explains, “I feel much safer at home having the lifeline buttons to press if I fall or if I can’t move. I put them both on every day in case I fall. I have told lots of my friends and neighbours about your service who now also have Lifeline too. My daughter, who’s 81, also got a red button after she saw how I was looked after by Progress Lifeline.”

Along with a Local Authority package of care, Progress Lifeline’s installation of technology-enabled care (TEC) has supported Mrs T to live happily and independently in her own home. Mrs T says, “Even at my age, I still like to get exercise while I move around at home. And the Lifeline buttons have made me feel safer while I get on with living my life.”