ATHOL – Alan Bowers remembers an early version of a medical alert service that the Athol-Orange Rotary Club ran that printed out patient contact information for the Emergency Room at Athol Memorial Hospital.
When state privacy laws were later passed prohibiting access to patient information by those who were not employees of the hospital and the Rotarians could no longer run the service, club members continued to volunteer behind the scenes setting up the systems at subscriber’s homes.
“We’re still pretty involved,” said Bowers, a past president of the Athol-Orange Rotary Club and Board of Director at the hospital who was responsible for starting the medical alert service project. One of the first subscribers was Bowers’ mother, who was able to use it in an emergency situation. “We were one of the very, very small hospitals that had it,” he said.
Bowers has seen processes, technology and costs change over the years. “On the older models, the maximum reach was 300 yards from the house,” he said. “Now you push a button and it goes to a satellite. You could be at Tully Lake and push the button and it would work.”
In 1985, the Athol-Orange Rotary Club teamed up with the medical alert service Lifeline, offered through Athol Hospital. Bowers said Lifeline is most commonly worn as a pendant around the neck.
“If you’re hurt, had a fall, or are not feeling well, a press of the button will reach the Lifeline call center which will contact the hospital, or directly call first responders, people who agree to be points of contact who are briefed about the process,” he explained. “Lifeline will call one of the responders to go check on the person to see if the Lifeline was dropped or accidentally activated or if an EMT needs to be contacted.”
Diane Coburn, Volunteer Coordinator at Athol Hospital, said currently there are 68 Lifeline subscribers from the North Quabbin area, Gardner and Winchendon. Coburn, who has been working with the Lifeline program for 1 ½ years, said she has been doing presentations about the service at local nursing homes and other places.
A subscriber is required to provide a list of three responders. “Anybody who can get to you quickly,” Coburn said. Lifeline is located in Framingham, Rochester, NY and Connecticut. Subscribers are registered with Lifeline and Coburn receives a copy.
Minute-by-minute reports are faxed to Coburn 24/7, 365 days a year if a subscriber has an incident, whether they were brought to the hospital, whether it was resolved and how. She said if a subscriber presses the button and Lifeline doesn’t get a response from them, Lifeline will activate a first responder, which could be a family member, friend or neighbor. Lock Boxes for house keys are available for responders if they don’t have a spare key.
Athol-Orange Rotary Club Board member Jim Meehan, who has been volunteering for the program for about 10 years, said the program through Athol Hospital is “the least expensive available.” Any money collected from Lifeline subscriptions goes back to the Rotary to invest in more Lifeline units. Meehan and fellow Rotarian Ted Ledgard will visit subscriber’s homes by appointment, scheduled by Coburn, for installations or repairs. Meehan said they are working on getting more volunteers.
If there’s a problem with a unit, a light will blink and the subscriber can press the reset button. A monthly test is recommended. Meehan said the units can be set up with more than one button for couples and that the buttons are waterproof so they can be worn in the shower or while swimming.
“It’s a monitoring system that protects them,” and gives subscribers and their loved ones “peace of mind,” Coburn said. “As long as the person is home alone, they should always wear the pendant. The whole point is to make life safer and easier.”
There are four programs available. The standard unit requires the button to be pressed to alert Lifeline and has limited range within the house and close by outside. The Auto Alert unit automatically detects most falls and requires a phone line. Meehan said it can also be used for house break-ins to notify police.
The GoSafe unit has Auto Alert and can travel anywhere in the United States within GPS range. When the subscriber pushes the button, it sends a signal telling Lifeline the person’s GPS location. Lifeline then calls the nearest EMT and police department.
GoSafe2 is on hold as kinks are being worked out due to weak GPS signals in the area, Coburn said.
Coburn and Meehan are scheduled to do Lifeline presentations on Wednesday, Sept. 18, at 12:45 p.m. at the Erving Senior Community Center; Monday, Sept. 30, 12:30 p.m. at the Petersham Senior Center (next to town hall), and Tuesday, Oct. 15, 12:45 p.m. at the Phillipston Congregational Church.
A presentation in Athol is being planned.
For more information about the Lifeline programs, contact Diane Coburn at Athol Hospital at 978-249-1145 or Diane.Coburn@heywood.org.