After COVID, I went to see my mom (who lives in another state), and who lives alone although across the street from my sister. I got her setup with a service to provide 24/7 emergency care if needed via buttons we placed around the house and that she wore on her wrist. My sister says she uses it to get the handsome firefighters over…..

I am always bothering her to do her physical therapy exercises like walking, doing some exercises standing and sitting (like the hallelujah pose to fix her posture and help her breath better!). One day, she was alone doing her standing exercises and doing some squats when she went to low and slid to the floor. The help button saved the day again!! We all hate it when she waits for hours in some position waiting for my sister when she should just use her button. For example, one morning when I was staying with her, I found her half slid off the bed and rescued her by having her put her arms overhead and pulling her back onto the bed.

We have it setup that they will immediately call my sister or her husband, who can pop over quickly if needed else send the emergency responders. One of the best investments we have made to support her!

My mom’s four sisters were over for a few days and as they were sitting around chatting, I heard my mom say that when she needs cheering up, she thinks about my wedding. I never knew it impacted her that way and immediately felt guilty for giving her a hard time about having to stay up and in the living room from 9-9 (no living in the bed!) 🙂 I got married for the first time at the age of 50 in 2016!

During that week she was also heard saying “I’m not allowed to go back into the bedroom until 9pm” 🙂 Just trying to help her get some quality sleep and not be constantly exhausted from no sleep. Sleep is a whole other story….!

My sister-in-law gave me a verbal alarm clock to help mom with reminders. She has an erratic sleep schedule and recently had issues with drinking and eating enough so I set it up with a few key items:

• Wakeup reminder
• Exercise reminders
• Eat/Drink reminders

I recorded about 6 reminders to go off during the day and because I didn’t have a multiple plug “extender”, I had to plug it in across the room. I left and came back to my mom calling me – evidently the alarm clock repeats the alarm/message until you hit the “OK” button so it had been on repeat for a solid 20 min with my voice reminding her to do something over and over!