GPS Medical Alarm

Most will know what a GPS (Global Positioning System) does. The GPS device pinpoints our position in a map and help us navigate in unfamiliar surroundings. This device should more accurately be called GPS navigation device. The dashboard of the car in the photo below is loaded with GPS navigation devices:

Photo of GPS Navigation Devices is property of mroach

Here is a novel use of the GPS device - medical alarm which is 2 type of devices. One is in the form of a bracelet worn round the wrist. If you have an elderly person in your house suffering from Alzheimer's or dementia, they can wear the bracelet which is a mobile GPS alert and is also a speaker-phone (see photo below):



The mobile GPS tracking device cum speaker-phone will also be a source of comfort as you will be able to call the speaker-phone from any telephone if you want to check on any elderly under your care.

There is another useful device - the fall alert. If those under your care fall, the tele-assist call center will be alerted and they can send help immediately.

Personal emergency response system (PERS)

Two years back, a relative of mine asked if I am willing to accommodate their mother who is suffering from Alzheimer's. I wished I had known about this Medical Alarm.

The above photos belong to Brickhouse Alert

Apparently, they have this GPS bracelet which this lady could have worn around the wrist and her exact location will be known to a team of trained professionals. Now if she wanders out of range of the house, the team of trained professionals will be alerted and they can communicate with her via the GPS bracelet which happened to also be a speaker phone. A trained professional will assess the situation and will make a decision as to whether to contact one of a pre-chosen helpers which can be her relatives or friends. Alternatively, if the situation warrants it, the trained professional may contact either the ambulance, firemen or police and notify them of her exact GPS coordinates.

A combination of the GPS bracelet cum BrickHouse Alert Tele-Assist (a home console) will make a PERS (personal emergency response systems) which can sense if she falls (fall alert), sense her activities and if she either falls or if there is no activity for a period of time, alert the team of trained professions. In addition, there is also an intruder alarm plus remind her of certain necessary activities such as taking the medicine, etc.

Blood Pressure Monitors: Importance of monitoring blood pressure

Blood Pressure Facts and Figures

Your heart needs to pump blood via the arteries, arterioles, capillaries, and veins to the rest of the body to supply oxygen, nutrients and other essentials for health and maintain life. Obviously, it would take fluid (liquid) pressure to be able to do that through these narrow vessels, and the blood pressure needed would be different depending on which part of the cardiovascular system it happened to be at. Now when doctor talk about blood pressure, what they refer to arterial pressure. Arterial blood pressure is the blood pressure in the larger arteries. Arteries are the blood vessels which take blood away from the heart while veins are those blood vessels that take blood back to the heart.

Why it is important to monitor blood pressure

It is important to maintain normal blood pressure which is generally is accepted as an average systolic blood pressure of 120 mm Hg (16 kPa or 2.32 psi)and an average diastolic pressure of less than 80 mm Hg (10 kPa or 1.55 psi). Systolic blood pressure is the maximum blood pressure in the arteries which normally will be near the beginning of the cardiac cycle (cardiac cycle is that repetitive period between the beginning of the flow of blood of one heartbeat to the beginning of the next) while the diastolic arterial pressure is the lowest pressure (at the resting phase of the cardiac cycle). Diastolic arterial pressure is the minimum pressure (resting phase) of the cardiac cycle). The diagram, taken from Wikipedia which is copyright under the GNU license should make it clearer:



The worst case is when the blood pressure is higher than normal which depending on the degree, can be either called pre-hypertension (systolic blood pressure above 120 mm Hg but systolic pressure below 140 mm Hg.) This frequently progress to hypertension or just "high blood pressure (when blood pressure is chronically high) is more problematic and can cause many medical problems like kidney failure, strokes, heart attacks, heart failure and arterial aneurysm. Because of this, it is important to regularly monitor the blood pressure.

Methods to monitor blood pressure

There are various kinds of blood pressure monitor in the market. There are manual blood pressure monitor where you have to use a pressure pump to manually inflate a band placed around the arm to control the blood flow.

There are also blood pressure monitors which uses some power source such as batteries or the normal electrical power supplies by your electrical power provider. Many doctors in my country uses the manual blood pressure monitor which uses a sphygmomanometer with a glass tube containing Mercury (Hg) and the doctors will have to figure out which uses the height of a column of mercury to reflect the circulating pressure (for the untrained, this can be difficult plus that tube of mercury is cumbersome and mercury is toxic)

The vast majority of residents in my country (in fact, I believe, the whole world) who monitor their blood pressure themselves at home uses digital blood pressure monitors as it is much easier to use (read). The blood pressure values is displayed as 2 numbers and it is a breeze to read off the systolic blood pressure and the Systolic blood pressure the diastolic blood pressure can simply be read off from those digital numbers (see photo below):

Photo of digital blood pressure monitor is property of Adrian Purser

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I myself have a simple digital blood pressure monitor, but my son-in-law have an even more elaborate (and of course more expensive) digital blood monitor. It is good to have one for your home especially if you have hypertension (high blood pressure) or pre-hypertension.