LifeFone Caregiver Tools

How it works:  Each day at a set time (you set the time), the base unit generates a beeping tone.   The subscriber can stop the beeping tone simply by pressing a button on the console, assuring LifeFone (and the subscriber’s loved ones) that the subscriber is at home and responding.  If the subscriber does not respond to the reminder within 15 minutes, an alarm is sent to our alarm center and received by a customer care agent who will then place an outbound call to the home to check on the subscriber.   If the subscriber does not answer the phone, we then follow his or her emergency care instructions.

We recommend separate emergency care instructions specifically for this service.   Not responding to the activity reminder may not necessarily mean that the subscriber is having an emergency; it may mean that he or she is not at home and forgot to let us know.  For this reason, before we send emergency responders to the home, it often makes sense to call a family member who may know whether or not the subscriber is home.  Accordingly, we ask for you to provide us with specific emergency care instructions with respect to this check-in service. 

The subscriber pre-selects the time of day for reminder.  If the subscriber will not be home on a particular day at the time of the daily reminder, or if the subscriber will be away for a 24-hour period or longer, you must notify LifeFone so that we will know not to expect a daily notification during that period. 

We recommend a lock box for this service.  It will enable a responder who needs to enter the home without damaging the home to gain entry.  We can provide you with a lock box to securely store the key to the subscriber’s home.  You choose a four-digit code that we will program on your lock box.  We provide this code to emergency responders, avoiding the responder to forcibly enter and cause damage to the subscriber’s home.  View our lock boxes.

Cost – $6/month for LifeFone subscribers using one of the above-mentioned systems.  This cost is in addition to the cost of your above noted, eligible emergency response system.  NOTE:  For $9/month, you can have Medication Reminders along with LifeFone’s Location and Notification Services. 

How does it work?

For the caregiver:  Once authorized by the LifeFone subscriber, a caregiver will be given access to the LifeFone Caregiver Portal.  There, you can upload up to four (4) reminders per day with up to ten (10) medications with each reminder.  (You can also include dosage information for your records, but the dosage amounts are not displayed to the subscriber).  You can update or delete the medication reminders as needed, and you can disable them if the subscriber will not be home.  You can also view reminder history to learn which medication reminders have been accepted and which, if any, have been ignored.

For the subscriber:  The medication reminder works through the base station of the LifeFone At Home Fall Detection, At Home & On-the Go GPS, and At Home & On-the-Go with Fall Detection systems.  The base station will announce “Medication Reminder — Please Press Reset to Accept” once a minute for 30 minutes, and the blue reset button will flash until reset button is pressed.   If the subscriber hits the reset button on the base unit, the reminder will register as “accepted.”  If you do not hit the reset button, then the reminder will register as “ignored.”

Additional Feature:  At no additional cost, subscribers to LifeFone Medication Reminders will also have access to Notification Settings that can be found in the LifeFone Caregiver Portal.  Here, you can access information about your LifeFone emergency response system and designate people who will also get that information via email or text.  For example, you can request system status alerts (e.g. low battery, base station disconnected from a power outlet, system test, and also an emergency event).  These contacts are in addition to the subscriber’s designated call list responders — the emergency contacts that are notified in the event of a medical or other emergency by phone.  To make any changes to the emergency phone contacts, you must call customer service at 1-800-940-0262.