Partnership promotes button pushing

BY SARA KEDDY

Kings County Register

It’s a business with one thing in mind: the personal safety of seniors, veterans and people who might need help – fast – when they’re alone.

Berwick Legion Medicaid is a partnership between Berwick’s Ortona 69 Royal Canadian Legion and Paul Ward, who’s been offering home medical alarms for several years in the Valley. Ward approached the Legion branch with an offer: invest in and promote the service to seniors, veterans and the community between Middleton and Wolfville for a share in the business’s income. They’ve been working together for almost a year. “We’ve done pretty good on it,” says Legion member Alf Dalton, “but it’s also a service to our members – veterans, and seniors.”

Legion member Hilda Keddy was one of the first to join the program. “I got it shortly after I moved into my new minihome – I’d had both hips done and was on my own, and this is just another ‘person’ looking out for you.”

She’s referring to the medical alarm button she wears around her neck. With the press of a button, a signal at a New Brunswick answering service prompts an operator to call – either by phone, or through a two-way radio-type of set that doesn’t require the medical alarm wearer to reach a phone. “I’ve tried it out – intentionally and unintentionally, and I’m very satisfied with the response,” Keddy says. “Before the alarm even shuts off, I have a call asking me if I’m all right.”

If she needs help, the answering service works through a list of three family members or friends provided by the client, looking for someone to visit the client’s home immediately. If there’s no response, emergency services are notified. “There’s always someone when you need them.”

Harley Rhynold signed up in December. He’d fallen a few times and depended on his wife to help him: “fortunately for me; unfortunately for Joyce,” he says.

Ward says the medical alarm is a safety reassurance people of a age and circumstance could benefit from. “If you’re 60 or 95, you have to ask yourself, ‘How long is it going to be before someone finds me?’ “People say, ‘Oh, I don’t need one because people call me to check on me.’ Well, if they call and you don’t answer, they may just think you’re out to the mailbox or down doing laundry.”

Working together, Ward and the Berwick Legion have signed up 30 people. Ward himself looks after another 100 clients met through personal visits, discussions with home care providers and other group presentations. People are shown how the system works, how far a range it has around their home and property, what happens when they press the button and are encouraged to test t every once in a while. “People need to test it so they aren’t scared to use it when they do need it,” Ward says.

Rhynold presses his button, which immediately starts to beep. As he stands in his sitting room, within moments a woman’s voice comes from the set on the lamp stand in the corner: “Mr. Rhynold, are you alright?” When he replies that he is and it’s just a test, the operator says he’s coming in loud and clear. “Have a nice day.”

Keddy and Rhynold look at each other. “I really feel safe with it,” Keddy says.