Doctors know the importance of having round-the-clock medical monitoring, especially for high-risk patients. Any serious medical emergency could occur anytime, and because doctors have no accurate way of predicting when it would happen, the only logical way to manage it is by conducting 24-hour monitoring of the patient. However, such kind of monitoring is not particularly cost-effective, especially for patients or seniors who are still able to get around.

Caregivers, on the other hand, could only do so much. Such as attending to the ache and pains of the senior, helping them with bathing, and assisting them with their daily activities, but their attention is limited. Unless we’re speaking of multiple caregivers who alternate shifts in 24-hour periods, caregivers would go home at the end of the day, leaving the senior on their own.

Obviously, there is a gap in attention, and unfortunately, it is through those gaps that accidents happen. Caregivers and doctors recommend medical alert systems primarily because the service could accomplish things that they could not. Usually, caregivers have other responsibilities and concerns—they also have a life, a family to attend to, and a job that demands their professional attention. That’s why giving all the obligations on the caregiver’s shoulders is essentially risking eventual neglect of the senior.

These days, medical alerts are advanced and efficient. Back during their early days in the 1970s, medical alerts were bulky, and it was hard for seniors to wear the devices. Worse, the early medical alerts were not waterproof, so they could not be worn in the bathroom. This was a crucial weakness: most accidents involving seniors occur in the bathroom—a slip on the tiled floor or the bath tub can be fatal when not immediately attended to.

Fortunately, like other in-demand and important technologies, medical alerts have evolved in terms of sophistication and efficiency. No longer are such devices bulky and a hassle to use. The medical alerts you’ll find being offered by different providers these days are built and designed for daily durability—they are waterproof and can be worn at all times, even when the wearer is in the bathroom. The medical alerts are also small, lightweight and designed compactly enough that it is easy for the wearer to be no longer self-conscious about it.

Using a medical alert system is so simple that even seniors who find trouble understanding technical instructions will be able to quickly use the system. Basically, there are no technical instructions—the senior only needs to "wear" the device (either as a bracelet or as a necklace pendant) and press the button whenever a need arises. Whether the seniors is plagued with—a heart attack, a dizziness spell—and they’re alone in the house with the caregiver miles away, they simply press that button and a professionally trained response center responder will speak to them from the loudspeaker of the system’s base unit. Other types of medical alerts can also be set to automatically call 911 or the nearest neighbor or medical facility whenever the device "detects" that the senior has an accident in the home—a slip on the floor, a fall, or some sudden inactivity that may indicate loss of consciousness.

A medical alert system can enable doctors or caregivers to have a better control of their loved one’s situation—the devices and the 24/7 monitoring associated with their use can easily fill in what the common caregiver could not do, which is remain with their aging loved one at all times. After all, a medical alert system, thanks to technological advances in manufacturing and wireless communication, is now very affordable, with a minimal monthly fee of around $20. For the breadth and scope of a medical alert system’s service, along with its other perks, we’d say that the monthly service fee is indeed a very small price to pay for ensuring the safety of a loved one.