Phone a friend

Just a cautionary tale. We just found out a distant relative passed away last month NOB. She was a recluse without any regularly scheduled activities. The landlord became concerned because her rent was over due and asked the local sheriff to look in on her. They found she had had a heart attack and passed away several weeks earlier. By the time they found her, only 1 her 5 pets remained alive. Please, if you know any one that lives alone, set up a time to check in on them on a regular basis.

So sad...

We had an old person in our hood when I was up north.   She had  a lightbulb on the outside of the house and each day she would turn it off in the morning and on at night.  If the light didn't go on or off we knew to go visit. Sure enough one morning the light didn't go off so we went to check it out and she had fallen. Simple and cheap and works. Use a blue lightbulb to stand out.

Great system!
The only downside would be the person might have to lay on the floor for 10 or 12 hours until it was time to turn light on or off and get rescued. The only thing better is the I've Fallen button but requires a system and monthly payment and is not available everywhere.
This is the perfect second best thing, thanks Z. When the time comes I will do this with my neighbors.
(. . .or maybe the time has already come. . .yikes)

Or set up an email system where the person emails a friend and if that friend doesn't hear from them, checks to see all is OK. Again, the person could be down for a lot of hours but better than nothing.

Living alone has its risks. You can mitigate but not entirely eliminate them. That is why some older people choose assisted living, a roommate or live-in help.
My mother lived alone until she died at 92. My brother called her or stopped by every morning. She had neighbors who kept an eye on her and knew her routines, when lights when on and off, etc. We had tried to talk her into one of those emergency monitor buttons but she refused. Any suggestion of doing something different was met with, "Just leave me along. I'm fine the way things are."

Trailrunner wrote:Great system!
The only downside would be the person might have to lay on the floor for 10 or 12 hours until it was time to turn light on or off and get rescued. The only thing better is the I've Fallen button but requires a system and monthly payment and is not available everywhere.
This is the perfect second best thing, thanks Z. When the time comes I will do this with my neighbors.
(. . .or maybe the time has already come. . .yikes)

Only problem with fallen button is if you are passed out. I would say both would be best. Another system is a daily phone call from neighbor at a set time. These folks need contact anyhoo.

Z

One of our tenants biggest fear was falling, not being able to contact anyone and dying on the floor days later. After some trials our solution was as follows. We bought her 3 cans of compressed air that when triggered send out an incredible amount of noise that can be heard inside the other 4 apts. Got them at an auto parts store for few bucks each. We put one on the floor in the kitchen, one in the bathroom and one in the bedroom. We also installed a shelf reachable from the floor for her phone with a list of emergency numbers taped to the side.

It changed her life she says and she no longer lives in fear.

Nice return on investment eh?