We’ve all seen the “fallen and can’t get up” ads for medical alert devices. There are many such products on the market. And sometimes they’re too sensitive: My elderly father apparently set his off during a religious service, causing everyone around him to wonder where the voice of the 911 operator was coming from. As it turns out, it was emitted from a neck medallion.
But I applaud any product that helps seniors. Some though, like the Apple Watch, can be much too complicated for older folks. Yet the concept of such a system in a watch is appealing, which is why I was eager to try out the new Lifestation Sidekick Smartwatch medical alert wearable. It’s aimed directly at seniors, with its large band and face, bright colorful screen, and overall simplicity. It shows the current time right out of the box – apparently connecting quickly with satellites when you turn it on – and if you swipe to the right, you will see your heart rate, a step counter, and weather forecast. But if you swipe one extra time, you’ll activate a medical alert system. Within 10 seconds – unless you press the screen to deactivate it – a LifeStation 24/7 Care Specialist will be talking to you through the watch.
I accidentally set this feature off twice in my testing period, but quickly deactivated it before it contacted anyone. But it’s good to know that this service worked so well. The watch gives that emergency operator your precise location via GPS.
The watch looks nice, too. And it’s fairly comfortable. Plus you can wear it in the shower, if you want. I love that it only has one button – that’s the kind of simplicity seniors like. The built-in pedometer worked well for me, too. And although I did measure my heartbeat with the watch, you’re not supposed to rely on it for clinical diagnosis.
But the unit I tried had two glaring problems. The first may be a “me” thing: The watch is loud. I mean yell-at-you loud. When you power on the watch, when it’s low on battery, etc., it lets you know at full blast. I was sure I was missing a volume control button somewhere. I actually phoned customer service and asked the rep about it. He told me that unfortunately, the volume is not controllable. I can only presume that it’s fixed loud because seniors don’t hear as well.
The second problem with the Sidekick is that for me, the battery only lasted 14 hours. Again, I found no way to adjust brightness – I thought maybe dimming the screen would extend the battery life. But to no avail. How can a watch only have a 14-hour battery life? I mean, if you have to recharge it that often, what’s the point of having it on your wrist? And you do have to remove the watch to charge it, in the included USB-powered magnetic cradle. While it charges quickly, if someone has a medical emergency during charging time, that could be a huge issue.
So I hope the company comes up with some solutions quickly for this product. Especially because the premise of the watch is such a good idea. The service costs $44/month.
