Set up the emergency features, and know their limits
Switch on the emergency features, name two people who are told, and judge fairly what these features are and are not.
Phones are sold as though they will look after you. They close three links in a chain of five: calling for help without hunting for a number, saying where you are, and showing your details to whoever arrives.
The other two are yours: the phone charged and on you, and somebody knowing afterwards. Nobody is well served by pretending otherwise.
Key points
- Switch on the emergency features, which do nothing at all until somebody does
- Name two people who are messaged, and tell them beforehand
- Cancel a false alarm in one press, and feel nothing about it
- Ask your Area Agency on Aging about a medical alert pendant, which needs no phone and no charging
What to remember
- None of this does anything until it is switched on, and it is off by default on most phones.
- A false alarm counts down first, with a noise, and one press cancels it. Nobody is cross about them.
Try this
Find the Emergency SOS screen on your own phone and read which buttons start it. Do not hold them. Knowing the movement before the day you need it is the exercise.
Practice: Set up the emergency features, and know their limits. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.