Philips Cares Offers New Hope and Assistance for Caregivers

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Pamela Lutrell reviews Philips Cares for caregivers

This post is about assistance for caregivers and it is always an emotional journey for me when I think about my experience with my mother. I am writing to share with you how the new Philips Cares app offers hope to those who are struggling. And I know it is a struggle.  I know this first hand from my own experience with my mother and from watching dear friends literally change their own lives to take care of family members. 

When I read about Philips Cares and the Philips Lifeline personal alert system that allows users to press a button to communicate with a trained care specialist, available 24/7, who can dispatch the help a senior may need, I wished I had the option of such a device when I and my brother were attempting to help our mother.

All my mother really wanted was to live in an apartment by herself.  But, she was miles away from us and beginning to have serious health issues.  She bitterly fought us on every option we offered.  Long story short…we found a lovely retirement home for her to live in and she hated it.  She arranged for a family member to “break her out” when we were not around and take her out of Texas all the way across the nation to Michigan.  She got the small apartment she wanted and ended up falling there and never left the hospital alive.

If we had been able to place her in an apartment near one of us, and use the help that Philips Cares offers, this story may have ended differently. We could not physically be with her all of the time, but the new digital solution makes it easier to stay connected and manage the health of the ones we need to care for. It is paired with the Philips Lifeline personal alert service. I like the fact that Philips Cares is around to help, so we can be present and informed and there for our loved ones.  It was very frustrating to think our only options were to force her to be someplace she did not want to be.

Over 50 Feeling 40 for Philips Cares

Philips Cares would have made my mother’s journey a more enriched one and given her the independence she so desperately clung to.  Perhaps with a service like this, my friends who have had to quit their jobs earlier than planned would still be working.

There is so much stress that comes with caregiving, Philips Cares wants to relieve it and give back an enjoyable experience caring for loved ones. It provides the insights and tools to collaborate in an easy and dynamic way, so seniors can have help when they need it, and the caregivers can be assured that the right care is always there.

All you need to do, is download the mobile app from Apple and Google Play stores, or access via web browsers.  The app and all the services is now available if you are a customer of Philips Lifeline.

I hope you will look into this.  I wish I had been able to go to Philips and give mother what she wanted. 

KEEP SMILING, EVERYONE!

Disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post I received compensation for, and the words are my own.

7 Comments

  1. It’s good that there are services like this to help. Where my mother lives, each person is given an alert button that they wear all the time. It’s connected to the on-site RN’s and staff. I think it would have been possible for her to remain in her own home longer with a service like this. In her case, however, she was different in that she wanted people to do everything for her. We tried another band of alert system when she and my dad were in “independent living”, but my mother refused to wear the lanyard, and did fall pretty regularly but had no way to communicate that. I’m sure a lot of people can be helped by this service you are featuring. I’ll keep it in mind for my own use at some future date. You’re right, caregiving is difficult with an unwilling loved one. The memory issues are the hardest, speaking for myself in helping with my mother.

  2. I appreciate the topic today. My folks retired from their traditional retirement almost two years ago now, leaving their beach home of the past twenty years and transitioning into an independent living cottage in our town. Mother had been dragging her feet for years, while Dad couldn’t wait to be closer to us and to finally have better access to quality medical care that just wasn’t readily available where they lived before. The struggles between parents and their grown children in this phase of life are many, but there is also so much to appreciate, too. I highly recommend the book “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande for anyone in this caregiver role – it helps so very much to explore the many possible paths to helping our folks. Both my parents wear their pendants, by the way, and it not only gives me peace of mind, but also one another since neither is strong enough to physically assist the other in case of a fall. It also allows me to take one or the other of them out for awhile and not worry so much that the other may be alone in an emergency.

  3. You brought up a topic that we face not only with elderly parents but also with disabled husbands. Care giving is on the job training and is very stressful. We assume so much that turns out to be false and the cost involved is staggering. I wish I had had this service when I was a caretaker! Thank you. I would urge all couples to talk about what can happen if one becomes really disabled. A little planning can save so much heartache.

  4. Oh Pam, thanks for sharing your difficult story. Big hugs to you!

    I’ve been a caregiver (along with my sisters and brother, thankfully) to both of my parents and I know how stressful it can be. We do it out of love, but it doesn’t make the stress any less. An option like this is a blessing …

    It’s so important to know what help is available.

    Thanks for this timely information for so many of us!!!

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