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Home safety for a disabled person

Stmcatee
Community Member

My dad is paraplegic and recently moved in with me.  He lives in an apartment detached from the main house where I live.  He is wheelchair bound during the day and bedbound during the night and cannot transfer without assistance, so I am trying to do what I can to improve his safety when I am not around.  The biggest fear I have is of a fire during the night, as he would be trapped in bed.  In theory right now he can use his phone or Google Home to call me or 911 for help, but I would like more of a safety net in case he drops his phone and can't make Google Home work (he has  small amount of mental disability as well).  I got a Nest smoke/CO detector hoping that would notify my phone in case it goes off but have not figured out how to make that work yet.  I would also love to have it set off the alarms in the main house and call 911 automatically if possible.  

Does anyone have experience setting systems like this up?  I would love any advice on how to make things safer and more usable for him.  I already have some cameras installed that I check regularly and that has been super helpful, but I don't know what else is possible.  Cost isn't a huge concern for me since it is his physical safety I am worried about.

Thanks in advance, and please let me know if there is a better place to post this.

4 REPLIES 4

MetalGlacier
Silver Product Expert
Silver Product Expert

I'm not sure about the ability to automatically call emergency services if an alarm is triggered, however you will be notified via push notification from the Nest app and the ability to call the local authorities. To get those notifications, make sure the Nest Protect is set up in the Nest app and is always connected to the internet.

To make sure the phone number for the fire department will be presented during an emergency, ensure that the phone number in the app is the correct number for the fire department nearest to the house.

  1. tap on the settings cog icon
  2. scroll down to contacts
  3. make sure that the correct phone number is entered

I hope this helps!

Great, thank you for the help!

PaulQ
Community Member

I just came across this post and wanted to add an idea. I use a Ring alarm system with a "Smoke/CO Listener" with my Nest Protect setup. Basically, it is supposed to listen for the sound of the alarm and then trigger the Ring alarm system. You have to place the small listening device a few inches from your Protect. If you have the paid Ring alarm monitoring service, it is supposed to activate the fire alarm sequence, which ultimately calls the fire department unless you stop it.

You're looking at buying at least a basic Ring system (maybe $150-$300?). You just need to make sure you get that listener, or buy one as an add-on. I think the monitoring service is around $200/year right now. ''

Another thing - the kepad(s) act as sirens when the alarm goes off. It might be possible to put a keypad in your house as well so you would also be alerted. They sell a range extender that could improve the odds of that depending on how far apart the buildings are.

I *think* the listener is always active, meaning you don't need to activate the alarm system for it to be listening. I don't know if his manual dexterity would be an issue with the keypad(s). You can arm the system with your voice using an Echo device. I can't recall if you can disarm by saying a code. I suggest you call Ring and go over this. They've been quite helpful the couple of times I have dealt with them.

Hope thay helps.

(P.S. those kits often go on sale and Costco sells one too)

 

 

Stmcatee
Community Member

That is exactly what I am trying to do, thank you!  That definitely sounds like what I need to do.  I was hoping I could achieve the same thing using Google products just so I don't need to buy into another whole system but if it's the only practical way to accomplish it then I will.  I really appreciate the help, it makes a big difference for us.