DIY emergency button

Abstract

When my elderly mother moved into a nearby retirement community last year, I urged her to get a wearable alert bracelet. This would let her summon help should she, say, fall and be unable to get up or reach a phone. She signed on for one offered by her retirement community- and was given a device that's as bulky as a can of tuna. She never wears it, and I don't blame her. There is actually a wealth of devices available to satisfy this emergency function, which is becoming increasingly important as the population ages. Many have a base station that attaches to a landline. Others have built-in GPS and cellular connections and can work away from home. The rub is that these devices are tied into services that tend to be pricey-typically US $30 or more a month. While my dear mother's well-being is, of course, worth every penny of that, I didn't see the need to spend so much on what I figured I could replicate for far less.