The Differences between Security Monitoring
                                                 and Medical Alert/PERS Monitoring

Home healthcare monitoring for Medical Alert/PERS is not the same as two-way security monitoring and requires special focus on serving seniors.

Security monitoring is all about the efficiency of handling a call. For obvious reasons, false alarms, or alerting the central station when it is not a security emergency is strongly discouraged. Even now with the strong push for alarm verification either by two-way voice, video or some other method, the focus is how quickly the central station completes the call and gets off the phone.

Unlike Medical Alert/PERS operators, a traditional security operator does not need extensive training. The traditional security system will tell them exactly what is happening in the house, whether it is a break-in or a fire, what part of the house is being affected, etc. The operator then calls the appropriate emergency department (police or fire), relays the necessary information, and ends the call.

Monitoring for home healthcare or Medical Alert/PERS is completely different than traditional security. Medical Alert/PERS central station monitoring services makes special efforts to make sure the user feels comfortable pressing the call button anytime. They work to break down the barrier that many seniors have about “being a bother”. Many have a complete profile on each user including personal and health information to be able to supply to the paramedics if needed. They also have personal information such as a call list on of family, friends and neighbors who can help out or “check in” on subscriber or take care of a pet if needed.

The operator who monitors a Medical Alert/PERS customer needs to be personable, have patience and be thoroughly trained in senior care. They need to be aware of issues and possible disabilities that the user may face such as limited mobility, loss of sight and hearing, cognitive limitations, along with their social and spiritual needs. Some Medical Alert/PERS monitoring centers may even expect their operators to have medical or emergency response training. The operator must talk to the customer to determine if the “emergency” is physical or social, and they need to respect the fact that either emergency could be life threatening. A patient who feels lonely, isolated, and depressed can be in just as much danger as a patient who is feeling chest pains. This means that a monitoring center that is set up to monitor traditional security systems may not be qualified to monitor a Medical Alert/PERS system.

Keep in mind that for the most part, the leaders in the Medical Alert/PERS market do their own monitoring and when they market their products and services, they focus mainly on the service. The service is the differentiation between them and the competitors. In fact, they often don’t even show the actual product, it’s all about the monitoring service and providing peace of mind. As such, they have and are setting the standards for Medical Alert/PERS monitoring and services. These standards include actually encouraging the user to push the button “anytime” for “any reason” and never feel like they are bothering someone or that the reason for the call is not important. It may not be, however it’s viewed as better to handle a call that is not important than not get one that could be lifesaving because the person “didn’t want to be a bother.”

One of the most important aspects of selling a Medical Alert/PERS unit is to partner with a central station monitoring partner who has experience and is committed to Medical Alert/PERS monitoring.
 

                            When choosing a monitoring partner, look for:

• Length of time they have been monitoring Medical Alert/PERS equipment.

• If just getting into healthcare monitoring, what is the level of commitment they are making to this market?

• Training or instruction provided to their phone operators specifically to handle Medical Alert/PERS monitoring.
• Training on how to talk to seniors and understand the challenges that face your 75+ year old customers day to day.

• Training or instruction on issues that impact seniors such as companionship, loss of hearing, loss of sight, loneliness, restrictions in mobility and other physical aliment, fear of being dependant on others, fear of being a “bother” or “burden”. Frustration over not being able to do what they use to take for granted, etc…

• Know their metric for how they measure the performance of their operators. Is it an environment that will take the time to deal with seniors with a polite, professional and empathetic “phone side manner”?

• Make sure they understand seniors issues and issues of monitoring Medical Alert/PERS accounts: higher number of non-emergency calls, the critical importance of seemingly “minor” or “insignificant” details such as who will feed the fish? Who will check the mail? The center must have a contingency plan for dealing with these issues if the user is taken to the hospital.

• Do they stay on the line until help arrives no matter how long it may take? Some calls will last less than a minute or two, others may take 45 minutes or longer until help arrives.