There are many important decisions people are faced with in this day and age; coffee or tea, boxers or briefs, PC or Mac, and in the personal medical alert industry there are two decisions with just as much pivotal importance; Waterproof or Speaker phone pendants.

Here are some tips to help with your decision making.

Some medical alert pendants are waterproof whereas others emphasize having a speaker phone built into the pendant making communication 2-Way.  Don’t be fooled by this kind of advertising because the Waterproof pendants communicate 2-Way, as well.

A speaker phone pendant allows a person to talk to the emergency personnel through the pendant instead of over a base unit. When you fall, just press the button, and as long as you’re within the range of the base you can speak to emergency personnel.

This comes in handy as long as you don’t fall while taking a shower or a bath.  Generally, the sensitive communication components in the pendant aren’t waterproof and can short out or become damaged due to moisture.  Some speaker phone pendants claim to be water resistant and you can take them into the shower, but water resistant is not water proof!  So be sure you read the fine print on how much water this pendant can handle.

The speaker phone pendant is also bigger, heavier, and bulkier because of the added mechanisms inside the pendant.  This can make it too tedious to wear all the time, especially when sleeping.

Whereas, the waterproof emergency pendant has 2-way communication also, only the duel communication devices are built into the monitor, not the pendant, making it easier to wear either around your neck or on your wrist. More importantly, the lightweight, waterproof pendant can be used in the shower and tub.  The bathroom is one of main areas where the elderly are most vulnerable. Therefore, it’s imperative that an emergency response pendant be able to work where moisture, humidity, and heavy water flow occurs, so if you fall you can still communicate with emergency personnel through the monitor while having the freedom of wearing the buoyant pendant while bathing.

Another tip to think about is - the speaker phone pendant is large and visible, while a waterproof pendant can be disguised as a watch and is small enough to be tucked into a shirt to eliminate any embarrassment a person might feel for needing a medical alert system.

When making the decision on which personal emergency response system to purchase take into consideration your needs and concerns as well as which one will be safer and easier for your lifestyle.  For more information, click on www.lifealert.com to learn more about personal protection from the industry leader.