Community Corner
Worth the Cost
We have all watched those TV commercials about in-home camera systems where you can see the interior of your home, watch your kids come home from school, etc., all from the convenience of a computer off-site. These services are all good and do provide a since of security while away from home. There is another more important reason to look into something like this, having elderly family members that live alone.
My mother is such a person, legally blind, has a degree of disability in walking and lives 25 miles from my wife & I. Last November while doing a "check" on her, found her in a serious medical state which required a stay at Yale and a few weeks of rehab. Thankfully, all is well now. But during her rehab stay she ask us to look into a camera system we could put in her home. She heard about this from a patient who had such a system installed called Drop Cam.
We did some research on Drop Cam and found it like all the others requires Internet Service with a Wi-Fi hook-up. All this is required at the home to be viewed. Camera's are outright purchased and can be moved from one address to another and easy to activate. "So easy a cave man can do it". They even have night vision.
Just last week she activated her "fall down" button by mistake and the service got no response when they checked. As first responders were being called so was I. A quick check via my computer showed her leaving the home about the same time the system was accidently activated. No problem and responders cancelled. Beats having them take down the front door and finding no one home.
So, if you have elderly parent(s) living alone, no matter where they live and you have concerns for their well-being you should do some research and consider installing something. The systems can all be activated from any computer system as long as there is an internet connection and is password protected. Check out the Drop Cam web site: www.dropcam.com
Having this or any other system allows for peace of mind when dealing with your eldely family members who live alone.