When you decide to spend the money to ensure your senior’s (or your self) safety, but hiring a medical alarm monitoring company, you need to make sure they have a great monitoring center. After all, what good would it do to push a button for help if no one gets the call, or is paying attention to it? Here are some things to look for in a medical alarm monitoring center for senior safety at home:
1. What quality are their operators?
Do they speak the same language as you? Are they committed to making sure your service is high quality? Basically to find this out you need to find out what kind of training program they have for their operators. You want one that has a comprehensive customer service training program designed to teach the operators how to handle all situations. Also, find out if calls are recorded and reviewed for quality and training purposes.
2. How are their operators trained?
This overlaps the above question, but it is important to ensure that your monitoring center’s training program was designed specifically for medical alarms. You also need to make sure that they are certified to handle medical accounts, and that they know how to advise you, calm you, etc. they basically need to know how to handle medical situations in a calm manner.
3. How many operators do they have?
Basically, you just want to make sure that when you call for help they will have enough people on staff to answer your call and quickly. So, just make sure that the company you hire has a Call Management System (CMS) that monitors the call flow traffic and projects staffing needs. This way they will be able to schedule correctly based on relevant data, and should have short wait times if any.
4. How is the monitoring center certified?
Basically you want to ensure that the monitoring center is UL listed, FM approved, CSAA 5 Diamond certified. HIPPA compliance is also a plus. These agencies certify monitoring centers and ensure they meet stringent requirements. They also perform annual reviews.
5. Is there a backup power source?
If a system fails is there a plan and a back-up system that can be implemented immediately and automatically. Back up power generators and UPS systems are something you want to ask about, and make sure they are certified. There are three different systems and certifications, never use a monitoring system that is not at least UL certified. The point of this is that no matter what, even if the power is out, you want to make sure that if you have an emergency that they will get your call for help and be able to answer you and get help to you as quickly as possible. A backup facility geographically remote from the primary center is also highly advisable to prevent against natural disasters.
6. What is their promise about your call?
You want a monitoring system that is going to have a live person answer the phone within a few rings no matter what. This is hugely important because if your loved one is hurt and scared, they will want immediate assurance that a real person is aware of their situation.
There are other things to look for, but do your research, and take your time, you want to make a well informed and good decision. Your safety is a huge priority, make sure that whatever company you hire feels the same way.
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