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A British company founded in 2004
James Batchelor of Alertacall invented Safety Confirmation inspired by his grandmother
Safety Confirmation was invented in 2004 by James Batchelor inspired by the needs of his own grandmother Eveline who was 87, here you can read in his own words how and why Safety Confirmation was invented.
"Safety Confirmation was created in 2004 because of something that happened with my own grandmother Eveline. She was 87 years old at the time but still driving her car, still looking after herself entirely and much like she is now - a very independent woman.
Eveline and James
One day she drove in to town to do her shopping and as she got out of her car she was caught off guard by a strong gust of wind and was knocked to the ground with some force. She broke her arm in a number of places.
After leaving hospital she went in to a residential care home just for a few weeks whilst she recovered and to get her strength back. As you can imagine, throughout that time she couldn't wait to get back to her home.
The whole incident was a wake up call for her and us as a family that she was no 'spring chicken' anymore and although she was 87 she said to me that she still felt inside her mind like she was in her thirties and she took a lot of pride in living independently.
I got thinking about ways in which we could help her remain independent for as long as she wanted to and one of the first things to come to mind was to get her a pendant alarm, a panic button to wear round her neck or wrist. Then, if she did have a fall or needed help whilst at the house she would have some means of getting it.
Eveline in her car
It seemed like an obvious idea so I approached her with some leaflets from my local community alarm company and you know what she said? She said …
"There is no way I am having one of those, I'm not old enough!"
This came as a bit of a shock because it seemed obvious to me that she should have one and it got me thinking how important it was we knew she was safe each day. It also got me thinking about pendant alarms and it struck me that if someone was unconscious or not wearing theirs - they could be left for days if no one was checking on them. I should note that she does now have a pendant alarm although it took her years to agree to having one and years again before she actually started wearing it.
Anyway, we started calling her every morning and most nights to check she was okay. It seems a prudent thing to do, we didn't live that close by and we thought this, at the very least would prevent her from ever being left on her own in the event of an emergency and that also she might like the contact from us.
Enjoying independence
This was in much the same way as a traditional morning call on sheltered accommodation scheme. The importance of a daily check for someone living on their own to is pretty obvious - if you are unwell or unconscious, or are not wearing your panic button or have fallen and cannot reach your pull cord alarm - you might be left alone for days. This is why a daily check is so important.
What actually happened was interesting. Quite often she wouldn't answer our call, not because she was avoiding us I don't think, but because our call to her would often be inconvenient. She would either be in the bathroom or sat in the garden or she simply couldn't hear us phoning. On a number of occasions we drove out to see her and fortunately more often than not she was fine.
But, it wasn't long before she began to feel that the calls were a little bit of a burden and that waiting for them was causing her anxiety - she admitted to us that she felt a little bit like a child waiting for us to ring and that, although she perfectly understood the value for everyone in the calls, it wasn't ideal.
The I am okay button
I could see her point. I wouldn't want to wait in for a call each day and I could see it probably was a little bit invasive. The solution was obvious to me, we needed to give my grandmother control over the process.
I said to her that if we made it really easy for her to let us know she was okay, literally by pressing a button that would take no more than 2 seconds - and - would only call if she hadn't done that, how would that sound? She loved the idea and said she was more than willing to give it a go. Safety Confirmation was born!
By asking my grandmother to press a button each day to signify she was okay, it would give her more freedom, it would check she was awake and cognitively functioning - and we could then respond if ever she didn't press. It was a way of checking she was okay that she controlled and that protected her independence.
Takes just 2 seconds a day
That is the basis of Safety Confirmation - a simple way for someone to let us you know they are okay in their own time. If they don't do this for whatever reason you make contact. This gives freedom to the person you are checking on, protects their privacy and because they can passively request contact at any time simply by not pressing their button - they get contact exactly when they need or want it.
Fast forward to today and we help thousands of private individuals around the county to stay in their homes for longer and work with councils, housing associations, and other landlords checking their customers are safe. We are the world's leading expert on Safety Confirmation and have more real experience of delivering this kind of service than anyone else - and that is a fact!"