As individuals grow older, certain precautions must be taken when living alone. Maintaining one’s independence is very important to most senior citizens, however, there is a certain level of responsibility that goes along with that as well. Because senior citizens may have some difficulty in handling emergency situations, many individuals and families have taken the precaution of using a medical alert system in the senior’s home. This provides an extra layer of protection in case the person finds themselves in an emergency situation.
However, this of itself can also cause complications. If an individual requires emergency assistance, but is not able to let the emergency workers into the house, then the emergency workers will be required to force entry into the house by any means necessary. This usually entails breaking through a door or window. This causes extra expense and trauma to the senior citizen seeking assistance.
The solution to this problem is home lockboxes. In the past lockboxes were primarily uses by real-estate companies and vacation properties as a means of securely leaving a set of keys to a property. However, lockboxes can be of great assistance in the situation that a homeowner has locked themselves inside their home and needs emergency assistance.
Using a lockbox is very simple. An extra set of keys is placed inside the lockbox. The lockbox is closed and locked using a secret combination code. Then the lockbox is placed in an easily accessible place. When an individual uses both a medical alert system and a lockbox, they will simply give the secret code and location of the lockbox to their medical alert company to add into their file. This way even if the individual cannot speak, the medical alert team can give the code to the emergency workers. When emergency workers arrive on the scene, they can gain quicker access to the individual which will result in better care and less damage to the individual’s home.
There are a few precautions about lockboxes, however. The lockbox code should be shared only with your medical alert company and individual’s you are certain can be trusted. Great care should also be taken in choosing a location to hide your lockbox. The location should be accessible but not so visible as to draw attention.
Lockboxes can add an extra layer of protection for individual’s living alone and could possibly save you time and money in the future.