This is where the Medical Alert Service agencies step in to help you. The services supply very easy-to-use buttons or electronic transmission devices that can be activated just by pressing a button fitted in a necklace or bracelet. It may be stitched on your pillow or on your bed close to your arm or waist.

The moment you press the transmission button or the command module, it sends a panic alarm through radio frequencies to the base station of the Medical Alert Service, which monitors your call. It has your personal and medical details in its database, and instantly alerts your family members or doctor, as the case may be. These devices are also fitted with consoles, which immediately contact your family members or doctors, who can respond to your call immediately. They also try to talk directly to you, if you can respond. This also helps monitor your condition.

Some of these Medical Alert Services perform all the monitoring tasks themselves, while others contract out the job to other agencies. Some of these services may be excellent, while other may be just lousy. The best course to decide about the quality of their services, their devices and their credentials is to contact the state certifying department. Any negligence in this area of enquiry may cost you dearly.

Medical Alert Alarms are devices worn on your body, usually in the form of bracelets or necklace-pendants. These pendants contain buttons that are electronic transmitting devices. The moment these buttons or electronic devices are pressed, they release an alarm through the activation of some radio frequencies or telephone lines.

Suppose a patient is alone in a bathroom and feels suffocated. He can simply press the panic button and the monitoring agency alerts his family members or the medical agency so crucial help can arrive within seconds or minutes. The monitoring agency, of course, possesses the medical data of the patient.

The Medical Alert Alarms are also fitted with a dial-up telephone connection. It has a very loud speaker, and supersensitive microphone. The monitoring agency listens to what the patient has to say and then calls the patient’s friends, family members and doctors. It is basically a communication system that uses the telephone to contact the monitoring agency, which in turn informs the medical agency and also the family members of the patient.

There are some other Medical Alert Alarm systems available on the market. A transmitter button or switch can be fitted in your pillow, which can activate just with the pressure of your head and thus call the crucial help. Buttons of similar type can be fitted in your bed, and easily pressed when necessary.

These Medical Alert Alarms are useful for healthy persons also. Any person confronted with an unexpected situation can use them to summon help. The alerts reduce the anxiety levels of the patients and their family members. They eliminate dependence upon others, and boost the confidence of the wearers and instill crucial feelings of security and independence. And they are very easy to use.

Or, you may be surrounded by sympathetic friends who at once transport you to the hospital, but the doctor must diagnose your problem and precious critical time is wasted. Or still worse, you are already suffering from some serious medical problem and land in an emergency medical situation where you faint and cannot speak for yourself. This is where the Medical Alert Card comes to your help.

A Medical Alert Card contains your personal identification, including your name, age, weight, your telephone number and the numbers of your friends, family and physician, along with a brief but crucial description of your problem and what medication you are already on. This ID card may be placed in your purse, wallet or key chain for quick and easy reference. It would be more helpful to attach this ID card to a pendant filled with two-way electronic Medical Alert devices to explain the patient’s condition to the doctor or his family and friends, so that he can receive prompt medical attention. Carrying such a card makes the patient more secure and confident.

This ID card should be made of heavy-duty, durable plastic material with ample space to write personal information with a pen or marker. It should preferably be laminated and heat-sealed. Such ID cards are more useful if they are provided to young children bearing their personal details including their names and telephone numbers and addresses of their parents. It becomes easy to locate their parents if they get lost.