My grandmother...
...the living advertisement.
About a month ago, my grandmother, who's creeping up on 90, got herself a MedAlert type getup. It's a bracelet that she can use to signal for help if she has a problem and can't get to the phone. Calls the paramedics/fire department, the whole nine yards.
So anyway, I get a message (no signal in the room I work in) around noon telling me that she had activated her alert, and when they attempted to call her back for confirmation, they got no answer, so they had dispatched the paramedics. "Oh my", I says to myself, and decide to try calling my grandmother, as I've got nothing to write down the phone number the alert company provided in the message.
Busy signal. Okay, that makes me worry somewhat less, as it means that someone is in her home and using her phone. But I still get the busy signal after a few calls, so I scrounge for a pen and paper and give the company a call. Ambulance dispatched, she was assisted on the site. That was all the info they had, so I took it as a good sign, but was still getting a busy signal when I called her home. Much less worried now, I figure I'll call her later. I do, and she tells me what happened:
She headed out to the curb to pull in her empty trash cans, and proceeded to lose her balance, landing on her bum. She's been ill the past few days and still a bit weak, and has been having problems with her joints for the past two decades. Needless to say, she had some issues with standing up again. She couldn't roll over and prop herself up on her knees (bad knees run in the family), and the trash cans were plastic and too flimsy to support her trying to get up. So she was stuck. She attempted to wave down a few cars, who couldn't see her due to being between two trash cans. So after 10 minutes of trying to figure out what to do, she decides she may as well activate the alert bracelet, as that's what it's for. A few minutes (and a vague phone call to me and my aunt) later, the paramedics arrive, help her up, make sure nothings broken, and offer to drag the cans back for her. So she's fine, and she now knows that her handy alert bracelet works as advertised.
Now that I know she's okay and am no longer worried, I can't help but look back and laugh. My grandma had, in fact, "fallen, and couldn't get up."
In other news: Guitar Hero 3 is pretty fun. Harder than GH2, but at least you get cash to unlock things in easy mode, which makes baby Jeebus do the happy dance.
Also: When fishing around in the candy dish, butterscotch is always a good choice.
About a month ago, my grandmother, who's creeping up on 90, got herself a MedAlert type getup. It's a bracelet that she can use to signal for help if she has a problem and can't get to the phone. Calls the paramedics/fire department, the whole nine yards.
So anyway, I get a message (no signal in the room I work in) around noon telling me that she had activated her alert, and when they attempted to call her back for confirmation, they got no answer, so they had dispatched the paramedics. "Oh my", I says to myself, and decide to try calling my grandmother, as I've got nothing to write down the phone number the alert company provided in the message.
Busy signal. Okay, that makes me worry somewhat less, as it means that someone is in her home and using her phone. But I still get the busy signal after a few calls, so I scrounge for a pen and paper and give the company a call. Ambulance dispatched, she was assisted on the site. That was all the info they had, so I took it as a good sign, but was still getting a busy signal when I called her home. Much less worried now, I figure I'll call her later. I do, and she tells me what happened:
She headed out to the curb to pull in her empty trash cans, and proceeded to lose her balance, landing on her bum. She's been ill the past few days and still a bit weak, and has been having problems with her joints for the past two decades. Needless to say, she had some issues with standing up again. She couldn't roll over and prop herself up on her knees (bad knees run in the family), and the trash cans were plastic and too flimsy to support her trying to get up. So she was stuck. She attempted to wave down a few cars, who couldn't see her due to being between two trash cans. So after 10 minutes of trying to figure out what to do, she decides she may as well activate the alert bracelet, as that's what it's for. A few minutes (and a vague phone call to me and my aunt) later, the paramedics arrive, help her up, make sure nothings broken, and offer to drag the cans back for her. So she's fine, and she now knows that her handy alert bracelet works as advertised.
Now that I know she's okay and am no longer worried, I can't help but look back and laugh. My grandma had, in fact, "fallen, and couldn't get up."
In other news: Guitar Hero 3 is pretty fun. Harder than GH2, but at least you get cash to unlock things in easy mode, which makes baby Jeebus do the happy dance.
Also: When fishing around in the candy dish, butterscotch is always a good choice.