A guide for families
Personal alarm or check-in calls? Often the honest answer is both
Personal alarms save lives. Check-in calls do a different job. This page compares them fairly, so you can decide what your loved one needs, and it is clear about where each one falls short.
The short version
A personal alarm is for emergencies your loved one can signal: a fall, a sudden illness, a frightening moment. When it works, help arrives quickly, and that matters enormously.
A check-in call is for the quiet decline nobody signals: eating less, sleeping badly, feeling low, missing tablets, getting a little more confused. Nobody presses a button for those, because nobody knows they are happening yet.
They solve different problems. That is why many families use both.
Side by side
Personal alarm: what it does well
Gives your loved one a way to call for help immediately, often with a monitoring centre that responds and contacts family or emergency services. Some pendants also detect falls automatically. It is proven, familiar and can be life-saving.
Personal alarm: its limits
It usually depends on the person wearing it and pressing it, and many people take pendants off in the shower or at night, which is when many falls happen. It says nothing about mood, appetite, medication or slow decline.
Check-in call: what it does well
A friendly conversation each day that notices how your loved one sounds, whether they ate, slept and took their tablets, and whether they seem lonely. The family receives an update after each call and a gentle alert if something sounds off.
Check-in call: its limits
It is not an emergency service. Mary cannot send help to the door, and a call happens once a day, so it cannot catch a fall at 3 pm if the next call is the following morning. If your loved one does not answer after the retries, the family is notified, but you or a neighbour would need to check in.
An alarm covers the moment. A call covers the pattern.
Costs, in general terms
Personal alarm costs vary widely between providers. Typically there is an equipment cost, either to buy or to rent, and an ongoing monitoring fee, sometimes with extra charges for fall detection, mobile units or installation. Some providers have lock-in contracts and some do not. Check the full cost over twelve months before you decide.
Support may be available through government-funded aged care for some people, so it is worth asking My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 whether your loved one is eligible for help with safety equipment.
A daily check-in call from Nonni costs A$39.95 per month with a 14 day free trial, no card needed to start, no equipment to buy and cancellation at any time in Settings.
Questions to ask any provider
These apply to alarms, sensors and call services alike.
- What happens, step by step, when something goes wrong? Who is contacted and how fast?
- Is it an emergency service, a companion service or something in between? Get the answer in plain words.
- What is the full cost over twelve months, including equipment, monitoring, installation and any fees to cancel?
- Is there a contract, a lock-in or a cancellation fee?
- Does the person need to do anything, such as wear a device, press a button or charge a battery?
- Where is data stored, who can see it and how long is it kept?
- Will it work in the way your loved one actually lives, for example in the shower, in the garden or at night?
How families use both
A common setup is an alarm for emergencies and falls, a daily call for the quiet days in between, and family and neighbours as the human layer on top. The alarm covers sudden events. The call surfaces slow change early. You and your loved one stay in charge.
If your loved one already has an alarm, a daily call does not replace it, and we would not suggest giving it up. If they do not have one and are at risk of falls, talk to their GP or an occupational therapist about whether one makes sense.
What a daily check-in call costs
If you decide a daily call would help, pricing is simple and there is no lock-in.
A$39.95 per month
for daily calls
- A 14 day free trial, with no credit card needed to start.
- Cancel at any time in Settings. There are no contracts or cancellation fees.
- No equipment to buy or install. Mary calls any landline or mobile.
What Nonni is not
Mary is a companion check-in service. She is not an emergency service, she is not a medical service and she is not a replacement for a personal alarm. She cannot send help to the door.
If your loved one does not answer after the retries, we notify the family so that you can check in yourself. We suggest you talk with your loved one about the calls before you begin, so they feel like a welcome addition and not surveillance.
In an emergency, always call 000.