Back At 90, Evelyn Robert can still live at home alone with the help of the Lifeline Service that sends an alert to the American Red Cross if she is in trouble. Lifeline provides an emergency device that can be worn around the neck or on the wrist and is connected to the client’s home phone.  When activated, it dials for emergency help and alerts the Red Cross to call a family member or other emergency contact. Katie Bruce’s family used the service recently to summon help to her home in Wellston when she complained of pain.  Bruce celebrated a birthday last week that Social Security Administration records say was her 115th. Last year, on average, Red Cross subscribers signaled for help at least 1,400 times, or an average of almost four times each day, said Stephen Hall, a communication specialist with the Red Cross. “I think it’s great,” said Robert, who had the device installed 10 months ago at her home in southwestern St. Louis County.  “It’s nice to know I can touch a button and I have help.” Robert recently rolled over in her bed and accidentally set off the alarm, prompting the service to call her grandson, who lives nearby, to her aid. “I was asleep, and he woke me up,” she recalled.  “He said ‘I got a call.  I guess you touched it.’” Robert’s daughter, Eve Mosblech of Oakville, who works for the Red Cross, had suggested the service. “She lives alone, and it gives me a greater peace of mind,” Mosblech said. Robert is among the more than 1,100 people in the metro St. Louis area who subscribe to the service, said Jean Romine, a Lifeline specialist with the Red Cross.  It is available in the city of St. Louis and in Madison, St. Clair, St. Charles, St. Louis, Franklin and Jefferson counties. Most of the subscribers live alone or are alone part of the day, Romine said. “If they need any help at all, all they do is press a button that they are wearing around their neck or on the wrist and it activates a small speaker unit which we install into their telephone line,” Romine said. A person on the other end of the phone inquires about the emergency and, if necessary, sends help. If a subscriber falls and alerts the service, a call goes out to someone among the contacts listed by the subscriber. “If we couldn’t get a hold of any of the responders, then we call 911,” she said. The button signal reaches telephones as far away as 100 yards, about the length of a football field. Romine said the button also acted as a speaker phone that the wearer can push to take an incoming call to avoid rushing to answer a ringing phone. The charge for activation is being waived until the end of the month.  Activation usually costs $65 with a $10 handling fee; the monthly monitoring fee is $38 with a three-month minimum. The cost can be adjusted to $22 a month for those who qualify financially.  Red Cross volunteers install the units. Recently, when Bruce complained of pain in her side, her family didn’t hesitate to push the button for help. Help quickly arrived, and Bruce was taken to a hospital where she was examined and released with a clean bill of health for a 115-year-old woman. Bruce was fitted for the device four months ago, and her family says it works fine. “I pushed the button, and they called back and asked if we needed help,” her daughter, Katie Stokes, said.  “I said, ‘My mother is sick and needs an ambulance to take her to the hospital.’” Stokes says her mother was given the device to hang around her neck four months ago. For more information about the device, call American Red Cross Lifeline at 314.516.2732 or go to www.redcrossstl.org. This story may be available for an Adobe Acrobat PDF download. Click on the link below to visit the site download center. If a PDF is available, the file will automatically open in your browser.

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