Red Cross offers bargain on personal medical alarms

In celebration of Mother’s Day, the American Red Cross is offering free installation of the personal medical alarm Lifeline to new subscribers throughout the month of May. \n“Lifeline (keeps) individuals living independently in touch with help when needed, gives family members peace of mind and assures prompt assistance is close at hand,” Donald Moore, director of Lifeline services for the American Red Cross in Monroe County, said in a press release.\nThe medical alarm consists of two pieces: a communicator which plugs into a phone jack and a small, waterproof button subscribers can wear around their necks or wrists, according to the device’s Web site. Subscribers, mostly elderly or disabled men and women, push the button if they have an accident in the home they cannot recover from themselves, such as a fall.\nA Lifeline employee at a call center will call the home, and if there is no response, begin the help procedure that starts with a call to the nearest neighbor to check on the subscriber and then possibly a 911 call, Moore said. The alarm button has a range of 700 feet.\n“The whole idea is when a person needs (help) and they cannot get to a telephone, they can push this button and we can call someone for them,” Moore said. \nFree installation saves subscribers $70, Moore said, and the promotion came about because 75 to 80 percent of Lifeline subscribers are female mothers. Moore oversees 500 subscribers in 10 counties in southern Indiana. Lifeline is one of only two national contracts the American Red Cross, a not-for-profit agency, honors.\nMoore, whose mother subscribed to Lifeline for four years, said the personal medical alarm service aids an overlooked population of society. The American Red Cross does more than donate blood and assist disaster victims, Moore said.\n“American Red Cross exists to serve citizens with which we live,” he said. “Lifeline allows us to reach out to the disabled in the community.”\nIU senior Ken Tussey has been a volunteer at the American Red Cross for two years. As a volunteer home service representative, Tussey installs and inspects Lifeline hardware in subscribers’ homes 12 to 20 hours a week.\nThe best part of his job is interacting with the subscribers on a weekly basis, he said.