BY NORM TOLLINSKY

John Whitehead, general manager of Care Link, a medical alarm response company serving Sudbury, North Bay and Timmins, had no way of knowing that a little marketing idea he and his management team dreamed up would be such a hit with emergency medical service personnel and health-care professionals.

Whitehead knew that paramedics and hospital emergency room staff sometimes have difficulty acquiring information about a patient’s medical profile and prescription drugs, particularly if the patient is unconscious or not well enough to communicate clearly.

“It’s not uncommon for EMS people to show up at someone’s home and empty out the medicine cabinet, so we came up with something nice and simple that attaches to the refrigerator door,” said Whitehead.

The so-called Link To Life medical information kit consists of a vinyl pouch, medical information cards and a decal for the front door. When paramedics show up at the home of a senior citizen or someone with a chronic medical condition and see the Link To Life decal, they know immediately where to go for the information they require.

The card, designed with the help of emergency room medical staff at Sudb ury Regional Hospital, provides information on allergies, medical conditions and current medications.

It indicates among other things whether the patient is diabetic, uses a pacemaker or has congestive heart failure.

The paramedics simply remove the card from the pouch and take it with them to the ER.
Originally, the idea was to provide the Link To Life pouch to the few hundred customers using Care Link’s home emergency call system, but all that changed during a meeting with EMS staff in Sudbury.

“When we showed them what we had, their eyeballs popped out of their heads,” said Whitehead.

Requests poured in

Realizing they were on to something, Care Link offered Sudbury EMS a supply of pouches and, before too long, requests from other health care and emergency services were pouring in from all over northeastern Ontario.

By early this year, 17,000 Link To Life pouches had been distributed and 10,000 more were on order, said Kevin Buckland, Care Link’s manager of client satisfaction.

The cost of producing so many pouches skyrocketed, but Care Link management saw it as a win-win situation for themselves, the community, ER staff and paramedics.

“We believe that in the next five or 10 years, the medical alarm market is going to grow significantly and we want to position ourselves as a major supplier,” said Whitehead.
“Having our name out there is great exposure.”

Distributing the Link To Life pouches has been the least of their worries. Police, Health Units, fire departments, hospitals, emergency services staff and senior citizens groups have been eager to help out.

Call system

Care Link’s emergency call system consists of a two-way speakerphone and wireless call button worn on the wrist or around the neck. Pressing the button triggers a call to Care Link’s 24/7 emergency dispatch centre in Sudbury, allowing an operator to determine the nature of the emergency and call EMS, a caregiver or a family member. A list of key contacts for the individual pops up on the operator’s computer monitor every time a call is received.

The wireless functionality of the device is far superior to wall-mounted buttons that may be impossible to reach if the individual has fallen and is unable to get up, said Whitehead.

The device can also accommodate programmable motion sensors. If no activity has been detected for a predetermined period of time, the device beeps once a minute.
Failure to press an OK button within 15 minutes triggers a call to Care Link.

The system can also be programmed to beep once a minute at specific times to remind people to take their medication.

“All they have to do is push the flashing button to acknowledge the reminder,” said Buckland. “If they don’t, the system calls us and we remind them.”

A Home Away button can be activated to temporarily suspend the activity sensors and pill reminders if the individual is planning to visit family or will be away for a day or more.

Seniors can also use their call buttons to answer their phone remotely rather than rushing to pick up a handset.

“Statistics show that rushing to answer the phone is one of the most common causes of falls by seniors,” said Buckland. “The phone rings and they get excited or they get a dizzy spell from jumping up. With this system, they just push the button and speak through the speakerphone. It’s not ideal for an extended conversation, but it allows them to get to the telephone at a leisurely pace.”

Care Link sells most of its emergency call systems to caregivers and health-care professionals concerned about their patients and to family members worried about their parents.

With an emergency call system and a Link To Life pouch in the home, seniors and others at risk have a better chance of receiving prompt and appropriate emergency care by paramedics and ER staff.

www.care-link.ca