# Aid in an emergency



## sunnyvmx (Mar 14, 2010)

At my age and single I must put in a good word for apartment living with close neighbors. Even though in excellent health, when I suffered a burst appendix, my neighbors heard my screams late at nght and came running. They took turns at the hospital, saw to my medications and nursed me at home after the first surgery. Before the second surgery to save my life, I broke up their Happy Hour with my yelling and flashing porch light and a taxi was called as I wouldn't let anyone drive me to the hospital. I have no doubt I would be dead today if I had been living in a single dwelling. For me, now living Lakeside, there is also the peace of mind that repairs and maintenance are not my responsibility and I'm free to just enjoy my life. Of course, it helps to have the wonderful landlords that I do and today I'm especially thankful for that.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

sunnyvmx said:


> At my age and single I must put in a good word for apartment living with close neighbors. Even though in excellent health, when I suffered a burst appendix, my neighbors heard my screams late at nght and came running. They took turns at the hospital, saw to my medications and nursed me at home after the first surgery. Before the second surgery to save my life, I broke up their Happy Hour with my yelling and flashing porch light and a taxi was called as I wouldn't let anyone drive me to the hospital. I have no doubt I would be dead today if I had been living in a single dwelling. For me, now living Lakeside, there is also the peace of mind that repairs and maintenance are not my responsibility and I'm free to just enjoy my life. Of course, it helps to have the wonderful landlords that I do and today I'm especially thankful for that.


That is a factor that I have thought about as well. I live alone. I have someone who comes in to clean for a few hours one day a week. I have some friends who come over weekly, but they don't have a key so they would just think I had forgotten to be home. If something happened to me, no one would notice until the housekeeper showed up.

But I like my life style and am not willing to change it.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

If neighbors are adjacent, or within about 50-80 feet, a neat trick is to buy a wireless doorbell and set it to an unusual ring, tune or tone. Keep the button with you, at least on your night stand, and give the ringer to your neighbor, with a key attached. If they ever hear it, they will know to come running and be able to enter and assist you. Of course, they could do the same and give you a ringer & key. The cost for such a solution is around $300 pesos per set and the batteries last a very long time. Testing can be done by prior arrangement, of course.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

Another couple of thoughts regarding living alone versus in an apartment complex/condo with neighbors who can come to your aid in an emergency. 

A few years ago as we became concerned about a rash of home invasions/burglaries in the Lakeside community along the north shore of Lake Chapala with its relatively large contingent of elderly foreign retirees, we purchased a constantly monitored movement and heat sensitive home alarm system sold to us and monitored by S.O.S.E. Security in Chapala - a company with whose services we are quite pleased by the way - as those services thwarted one serious home invasion and other attempts at burglary plus God knows how many potential thieves reconnoitering the neighborhood who chose our unalarmed neighbors´ homes over ours. 

Above comments by others made me realize that the "panic button" on my remote alarm activator, which I carry with me at all times and keep by my bedside at night, is a great asset to us since, as we grow older and realize the fragility of life, we have that panic button which works whether or not the alarm system is on at the time. When the alarm system sounds, not only does it mimic the screams of the hounds of hell all over the neighborhood but, and this we have seen demonstrated time and again over the years, S.O.S.E´s people call us immediately and if do not answer or call them off with a secret code, they call good neighbors who are then alerted that there is a problemand/or their staff or the Chapala police are at our door shortly and on the alert. This system was put in place to protect us and our home from criminal acts but I now see the added value of this sort of system in calling for help in an emergency.

My second thought regards my 92 year old mother-in-law who lives in a small town in the Loire Valley in France who still lives totally alone in her own home and vows to avoid the old-folks home as long as humanly possible even though her town has, comparatively speaking, some very nice homes for the elderly. One day she was walking across her living room when she tripped and fell and literally couldn´t get up off the floor. Over time she was able, with considerable effort, to drag herself to a telephone but had there not been a telephone in that room, she may very well have died there before anyone knew she was in trouble. Now, she carries a medical alert button on a necklace at all times and would never be without it even in the shower. 

I hate to admit ignorance of this but there must be companies all over Mexico selling these medical alert services. Anyone out here have any recommendations? Since we live in two towns separated by 1,500 kilometers, I wonder if there is a nationwide medical alert system in Mexico.

By the way, we worry more about unresponsive neighbors at Lake Chapala than we do in San Cristóbal de Las Casas because in Chiapas, our Mexican neighbors are always on the alert to help each other without question while our expat neighbors at Lake Chapala are much less reliable. In fact, our Mexican neighbors in San Cristóbal saved my life in 2008 when I had a seizure resulting from a failed gall bladder. Had I been in our home alone at Lake Chapala it would have been bye-bye Dawg.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

I hate to admit ignorance of this but there must be companies all over Mexico selling these medical alert services. Anyone out here have any recommendations? Since we live in two towns separated by 1,500 kilometers, I wonder if there is a nationwide medical alert system in Mexico.

Unbelievable to me, those services are still not available in Mexico
The closest thing would be ADT, if you have an emergency, they expect for you to dial some numbers and they call you back, which does not work at all if you are having a heart attack or fell down and cannot move.


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

I, too, fell ill with a kidney infection. I told my neighbor that all was fine, but after three days, in comes my dueño and my neighbor with a wheelchair and they cart me off to the hospital. My dueño paid the hospital bill, he and my neighbor sat with me at the hospital and bought medications from the pharmacy across the street. When I repaid my dueño for the hospital and thanked him for his help, he said, "You are family."


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

joaquinx said:


> I, too, fell ill with a kidney infection. I told my neighbor that all was fine, but after three days, in comes my dueño and my neighbor with a wheelchair and they cart me off to the hospital. My dueño paid the hospital bill, he and my neighbor sat with me at the hospital and bought medications from the pharmacy across the street. When I repaid my dueño for the hospital and thanked him for his help, he said, "You are family."


Your dueño?
Perhaps he is your landlord, in which case he's "el casero"
If you say he is your dueño, it means he's your owner, he owns you


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

GARYJ65 said:


> Your dueño?
> Perhaps he is your landlord, in which case he's "el casero"
> If you say he is your dueño, it means he's your owner, he owns you


I also means landlord or proprietor. Check you dictionary.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

joaquinx said:


> I also means landlord or proprietor. Check you dictionary.


I don't mean to be rude, but...I am Mexican, don't have to check any dictionaries
If you say "my dueño" it means my owner, the one that owns me
If you want to say "my Landlord" you say mi casero
In any case, you already sent me to check on a book, just trying to be helpful here


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

GARYJ65 said:


> I don't mean to be rude, but...I am Mexican, don't have to check any dictionaries
> If you say "my dueño" it means my owner, the one that owns me
> If you want to say "my Landlord" you say mi casero
> In any case, you already sent me to check on a book, just trying to be helpful here


Now you are a lexicographer. You might want to look up that word.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

It sounds to me like a bit of "Spanglish-cizing". I've heard many Mexicans referring to "el dueño" in reference to their landlord - but in English saying "the dueño" is less descriptive and clear than "my dueño" - so in Spanish "mi dueño" does translate to "my owner" - but I would see the mixed "my dueño" as being a colloquial Spanglish way of referring to one's landlord, although guaranteed to drive a purist nuts. 

Dueño/dueña is also often used to refer to one's spouse/life partner. When I first became immersed in Spanish culture and language I really bristled at this - I did not want to own or be owned by anyone. But over the years I've lightened up, recognizing that it can be used in a loving context as opposed to the controlling context that it imparts to my North American sensibilities. It's still not a term I'm totally comfortable with, but I bristle less as long as it's "co-ownership".


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

ojosazules11 said:


> It sounds to me like a bit of "Spanglish-cizing". I've heard many Mexicans referring to "el dueño" in reference to their landlord - but in English saying "the dueño" is less descriptive and clear than "my dueño" - so in Spanish "mi dueño" does translate to "my owner" - but I would see the mixed "my dueño" as being a colloquial Spanglish way of referring to one's landlord, although guaranteed to drive a purist nuts.
> 
> Dueño/dueña is also often used to refer to one's spouse/life partner. When I first became immersed in Spanish culture and language I really bristled at this - I did not want to own or be owned by anyone. But over the years I've lightened up, recognizing that it can be used in a loving context as opposed to the controlling context that it imparts to my North American sensibilities. It's still not a term I'm totally comfortable with, but I bristle less as long as it's "co-ownership".


If one says "el dueño" or "la dueña" it may mean the landlord, only if we know the context of renting or leasing.
As you said, my dueño, or mi dueño means, without any doubt, my owner.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

I was not trying to annoy anyone here, but many times in this forum, some people get very defensive towards opinions. I think it comes with age; as we get older we think we know everything, mostly men. I will get there for sure.
Meanwhile, out of Diccionario de la Real Academia de la Lengua Española:

dueño.
(Del lat. domĭnus).
1. m. Hombre que tiene dominio o señorío sobre alguien o algo. En la lírica amorosa solía llamarse así también a la mujer.
2. m. Amo de la casa, respecto de sus criados.
3. m. desus. Ayo, preceptor.
~ del argamandijo.
1. m. coloq. señor del argamandijo.
~ de sí mismo.
1. m. El que sabe dominarse y no se deja arrastrar por los primeros impulsos.
hacerse alguien ~ de algo.
1. loc. verb. Adquirir cabal conocimiento de un asunto, dominar alguna dificultad.
2. loc. verb. Apropiarse facultades y derechos que no le competen.
ser ~, o muy ~, de hacer algo.
1. locs. verbs. coloqs. Tener libertad para hacerlo.
ser el ~ de la baila.
1. loc. verb. Ser el principal en algún negocio.
ser el ~ del cuchillón, o del hato, o de los cubos.
1. locs. verbs. coloqs. Tener mucho manejo en una casa o con algunas personas.
Real Academia Española © Todos los derechos reservados

No Landlord meaning, sorry


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

The dictionary of the RAE is an important arbiter of the language spoken in most of Latin American and most of Spain, but it should not be the absolute arbiter of Mexican Spanish. It does a good job of including definitions of words as used outside of Spain, but it is not perfect. In the final analysis, what matters is how the language is actually used in the country in question. Dictionaries are always a few steps behind the actual usage of the language. Since many Mexicans use "dueño" and "dueña" to refer to their landlord or landlady, that makes it an acceptable use of the words, even if you, Gary, do not agree!


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

Isla Verde said:


> The dictionary of the RAE is an important arbiter of the language spoken in most of Latin American and most of Spain, but it should not be the absolute arbiter of Mexican Spanish. It does a good job of including definitions of words as used outside of Spain, but it is not perfect. In the final analysis, what matters is how the language is actually used in the country in question. Dictionaries are always a few steps behind the actual usage of the language. Since many Mexicans use "dueño" and "dueña" to refer to their landlord or landlady, that makes it an acceptable use of the words, even if you, Gary, do not agree!


I agree, by all means, I agree with that 
el dueño
la dueña

not my dueño or mi dueño


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

GARYJ65 said:


> If one says "el dueño" or "la dueña" it may mean the landlord, only if we know the context of renting or leasing.
> As you said, my dueño, or mi dueño means, without any doubt, my owner.


In any language, the context is essential for understanding the meaning of a particular word or phrase.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

GARYJ65 said:


> I agree, by all means, I agree with that
> el dueño
> la dueña
> 
> not my dueño or mi dueño


Sounds good to me!


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

would el dueño be correct and mi dueño incorrect? That is the way it would be in French so I am just curious.


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

citlali said:


> would el dueño be correct and mi dueño incorrect? That is the way it would be in French so I am just curious.


Yes, according to me


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

I'm willing to end this argument now. From now forward, I will not use the word 'dueño', but the phrase 'the short person to whom I pay my rent,' aka TSPTWIPMR.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

the word dueño is not in question using mi is the problem. The same in French ...


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

citlali said:


> the word dueño is not in question using mi is the problem. The same in French ...


Who used 'mi'? Not moi!


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## maesonna (Jun 10, 2008)

GARYJ65 said:


> I wonder if there is a nationwide medical alert system in Mexico.
> Unbelievable to me, those services are still not available in Mexico


I think it’s not so unbelievable if we consider the cultural differences — this is a culture where the elderly and the disabled are cared for by the family. in Mexico, at least in theory, no person who needs help is left alone; they get frequent visits from their family, or if they can’t manage by themselves any more, they live with a younger or capable family member. At least that’s what people believe. Of course, the reality might be different.


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## Hound Dog (Jan 18, 2009)

_


maesonna said:



I think it’s not so unbelievable if we consider the cultural differences — this is a culture where the elderly and the disabled are cared for by the family. in Mexico, at least in theory, no person who needs help is left alone; they get frequent visits from their family, or if they can’t manage by themselves any more, they live with a younger or capable family member. At least that’s what people believe. Of course, the reality might be different.

Click to expand...

_This dedicated and absolute family care for the elderly was the unbendable tradition among Chinese famliies immigrating to San Francisco from China in the 1980s and then along came the welfare state and the Chinese are not totally stupid so many Chinese families allowed their elderly and inifrm familiy members to be cared for by the state and the family bowed out of their centuries old responsibiities in a nanosecond. The Chinese are many things but stupid is not among them.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

joaquinx said:


> I, too, fell ill with a kidney infection. I told my neighbor that all was fine, but after three days, in comes my dueño and my neighbor with a wheelchair and they cart me off to the hospital. My dueño paid the hospital bill, he and my neighbor sat with me at the hospital and bought medications from the pharmacy across the street. When I repaid my dueño for the hospital and thanked him for his help, he said, "You are family."


It seems the real message of this post got lost in the semantics. What a great landlord you have, who is now family. Great to know you have people to look after you even when you think you're "fine"! I guess one way around the proper address for your landlord is to determine how you are related now that you're family - _hermano, primo, compadre?_ My husband does not have any brothers by birth, but he and his closest friend always refer to each other as "mi hermano".


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

Getting back to the original theme about access to emergency services, in Canada one of the compnies providing a Personal alert device that the person can wear to call emergency services is "Lifeline", so I searched "Lifeline Mexico" on a whim. There is a "Lifeline Mexico" which provides emergency medical services. I can't decipher from the website if they provide one of those emergency alert buttons to wear around your neck or on your wrist, but if anyone is interested in looking into their services further here is the website:

LIFE LINE

They even have a team of "Motociclistas de Intervención Rápida" (Rapid Intervention Motorcyclists" who get to you quickly and stabilize you while waiting for the ambulance.


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

ojosazules11 said:


> Getting back to the original theme about access to emergency services, in Canada one of the compnies providing a Personal alert device that the person can wear to call emergency services is "Lifeline", so I searched "Lifeline Mexico" on a whim. There is a "Lifeline Mexico" which provides emergency medical services. I can't decipher from the website if they provide one of those emergency alert buttons to wear around your neck or on your wrist, but if anyone is interested in looking into their services further here is the website:
> 
> LIFE LINE
> 
> They even have a team of "Motociclistas de Intervención Rápida" (Rapid Intervention Motorcyclists" who get to you quickly and stabilize you while waiting for the ambulance.


Interesting - thanks for posting this. I wonder how much one of their services costs  .


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

I find it more of a myth than a fact ... that families take care of their own in Mexico any better than families in the USA or Canada do those things. I've witnessed many instances of lack of care and of sick people turned-out into the streets by their families. Certainly there are exceptions all around, but, for the most part, in Mexico it's 'survival of the fittest.'


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

Longford said:


> I find it more of a myth than a fact ... that families take care of their own in Mexico any better than families in the USA or Canada do those things. I've witnessed many instances of lack of care and of sick people turned-out into the streets by their families. Certainly there are exceptions all around, but, for the most part, in Mexico it's 'survival of the fittest.'


Al contrario, Longford. I think that in Mexico older members of the family are usually taken in by their families, or have lived with them for years. Multi-generational family households seem to be much more common in Mexico than in the US. Maybe you and I just know different sorts of people here.


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## Longford (May 25, 2012)

More often than not, I think the multi-generational living arrangements are out of necessity ... not out of desire. With half the country living below a low-level poverty line ... group living is a necessity. Group living doesn't always equate to increased caring. Certainly, being in close proximity makes it easier to care for some one ... if there's interest in doing that. In Mexico City, as one example, you can easily find sick people begging at Metro entrances for money to help pay for medicine they or their families cannot or will not pay for, and which the government doesn't provide. You can also find old people abandoned and begging and/or living on the street ... and tens of thousands of abandoned children living on the street ... both groups without care from a family or social service agency. I'm not saying Mexican's don't care, I'm saying I think that care is really no different, no greater overall than I see in the USA and Canada.


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

Clearly in all cultures you can find the best and the worst specimens of humanity, so there will be elderly Mexicans who have no one to care for them, especially in cases of extreme poverty or families with alcoholism or other addictions. I do agree, however, that in terms of cultural constructs, Mexican culture is more family and community oriented vs. the value placed on individualism in the US. This family orientation is similar in many traditional cultures. I know a young Canadian woman engaged to a man of Burmese descent, immigrants to Canada. His father is a widow, so the extended family expects the son to basically accompany his father and look after him for the rest of his life, including having the father live with his family once he is married. This is a very different idea than his fiancée had about her future married life. As she said, "My parents raised me to be independent. They would never expect to live with us." I have also heard several people from India lament the fact that as that country becomes increasingly Westernized, the respect and care of elders is being lost, as their perception is that in the West we don't take care of our elders. I have said this is certainly not universal - in my experience most of us in the US & Canada do ensure our elders are cared for. They may be placed in nursing homes, however, which is not generally culturally accepted in the parts of Latin America where I've been. Even Latin Americans here in Toronto feel that placing an elderly parent in a nursing home is equivalent to abandoning them.

My elderly, widowed mother saved for retirement and had SS, so she never needed financial support from her children. My mother-in-law never had such opportunities, and her financial needs are simply a part of our household budget - this is simply the way it is, because for us it is a given to value and look after _abuelita_. (Also our children see us doing this so hopefully when we're old, cranky, and decrepit they won't turf us onto the street!!)


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## ojosazules11 (Nov 3, 2013)

And to be perfectly clear, that "old, cranky, and decrepit" comment is NOT in reference to anyone on this expat forum, nor in reference to my dear suegra, only to my potential future self. I already too often meet the "cranky" part of that description!


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

ojosazules11 said:


> Clearly in all cultures you can find the best and the worst specimens of humanity, so there will be elderly Mexicans who have no one to care for them, especially in cases of extreme poverty or families with alcoholism or other addictions. I do agree, however, that in terms of cultural constructs, Mexican culture is more family and community oriented vs. the value placed on individualism in the US. This family orientation is similar in many traditional cultures. I know a young Canadian woman engaged to a man of Burmese descent, immigrants to Canada. His father is a widow, so the extended family expects the son to basically accompany his father and look after him for the rest of his life, including having the father live with his family once he is married. This is a very different idea than his fiancée had about her future married life. As she said, "My parents raised me to be independent. They would never expect to live with us." I have also heard several people from India lament the fact that as that country becomes increasingly Westernized, the respect and care of elders is being lost, as their perception is that in the West we don't take care of our elders. I have said this is certainly not universal - in my experience most of us in the US & Canada do ensure our elders are cared for. They may be placed in nursing homes, however, which is not generally culturally accepted in the parts of Latin America where I've been. Even Latin Americans here in Toronto feel that placing an elderly parent in a nursing home is equivalent to abandoning them.
> 
> My elderly, widowed mother saved for retirement and had SS, so she never needed financial support from her children. My mother-in-law never had such opportunities, and her financial needs are simply a part of our household budget - this is simply the way it is, because for us it is a given to value and look after _abuelita_. (Also our children see us doing this so hopefully when we're old, cranky, and decrepit they won't turf us onto the street!!)


An excellent (and compassionate) cross- cultural analysis of the role of the family in different cultures!


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## joaquinx (Jul 3, 2010)

Today, I paid my rent to my TSPTWIPMR.


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## Azuledos (Jan 21, 2010)

Getting back to the original subject of the thread, I need to say that there are a number of phone-based emergency call-out solutions that do not require an expensive monthly subscription or existing network of service providers. These would work well in Mexico.

We had one for my Mom, complete with emergency pendant that would initiate a call to a series of pre-programmed numbers. Outgoing calls from the base-station (can be a wired or cordless phone, large buttons, speaker, etc) continue until a responder is reached and reacts. Responder can listen to ambient sounds in the room (I've fallen and can't get up! Help!), etc. 

Some of the gear options have a mic on the emergency button gizmo (neck pendent or wrist band), and just a dialer (no useable phone in the loop). The ones I've seen work with a landline or VOIP connection--and I think some new ones work from cellphone. Google search for "emergency dialer phone pendant" for suppliers.

Dan


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## GARYJ65 (Feb 9, 2013)

I could recommend an emergency bracelet made by Laipac Company
Check it out


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