When a personal alarm is activated, it generally signals that someone is in need of help.
The wearer of the alarm may have had a fall and need help getting back up, or they could be seriously injured, or they may have had a heart attack or stroke – in other words, they are experiencing a medical emergency that requires urgent attention from the response team once the personal alarm is activated.
An elderly person may be frail and unwell and living alone, with family not close enough to provide regular visits and support. In these cases, the person might activate the alarm on a regular basis to just check in and reassure loved ones they are alright.
Whatever the situation when a personal alarm is activated, the wearer of the alarm requires reassurance and support, but most of all they require a caring and deeply attentive attitude.
So, who are the people behind the voices that our seniors hear when they activate their personal alarms? We spoke to members of the team at MePACS, who have been providing the ‘human touch’ to alarm calls since 1989.
Jessie knew she wanted to wanted to work in health and to improve the lives of others when she left Uni.
She began working at MePACS a couple of years ago and says she loves talking to clients, whether it be over the phone, through online chats, or email.
Outside of work, Jessie volunteers once a week for a not-for-profit in her local area, where she visits an elderly person at their home, sits down and has a cup of tea and a chat, and then takes their dog for a walk. She is also fascinated by Japan, and has travelled there three times, including for her honeymoon and to climb Mount Fuji.
“MePACS not only improves the quality of life of our members, but has also saved many of our members’ lives,” Jessie says.
Denise, who is also known as Ticki, has worked at MePACS for four years. She has a Certificate 3 in Health and a Diploma of Community Service, and has worked extensively in the healthcare sector.
“I love that I make a difference in our clients’ lives, sometimes I’m the only person they talk to all day,” Ticki observed.
She says she also admires the dedication of the team she works with.
“My colleagues are exceptional, and I really enjoy coming to work every single day.”
Working as part of response team for the elderly, there are of course some sad and difficult times.
“There is no doubt that my job comes with highs and lows,” Ticki says, “but working as a close-knit team, we all support one other.”
In her spare time, Ticki is writing her autobiography and she enjoys comedy. She also runs a Christmas Tree farm so is busy at the moment.
Simon previously worked as an ambulance and fire dispatcher for 000. He has worked for MePACS for eight years.
He says mornings are the busiest times because clients often put up with pain throughout the night, and only call in the morning to ask for help.
“They don’t need to do this as we have people available all night to help them,” he said.
He likes talking to customers when they test their pendants each morning, or when they put their pendant on standby.
“I enjoy talking to our customers,” he said. “It’s great as I get to hear about what people are up to for the day and chat about if the weather’s okay to put the washing out.”
Simon reported that his wife is an amazing cook, and he enjoys playing tennis and doing cross-fit.
The MePACS team works closely together, providing support for customers, but also looking out for each other. Their caring attitudes are reflected in the high level of service they provide to MePACS personal alarm customers, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
You can contact MePACS on 1800 451 300.
This is a bit of reality, being old, frail and living alone at home is lonely and unsafe. We hear stories from the nursing home critics about staff “engagement” not being one on one and intimate but just knowing that there is help and support is a critical part of residential care and undervalued. These contact workers in the above story do a fine job for those few minutes… but what then?… Nothing!!
It’s been very popular for the media to throw exaggerated alergations and suggest all are doing the wrong thing, look at the SMH, headlines suggesting massive profits, tax rorts and expensive cars etc but under examination it’s confirmed that the average return on investment is 3.8%…AVERAGE!
Over half in the red and still delivering excellent care despite our Liberal government trying to destroy the business.
Thank God for the nurses and operators of aged care that are making old age safe and reliable.