How can I encourage my elderly friend to get a home security system?
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I have an elderly friend who has been close to my family for many years. She has also been an active member of our local community for even longer. She is very trusting of all of the people that live in our town because she has had so many good experiences. However, because of this, she is refusing to get an alarm system on her home.
I am very concerned for her safety. Though many people in our community are wonderful, upstanding citizens, things are changing. New people are moving into the area and there are new types of crimes that we never heard anything about years ago. I have to say, overall, compared with large cities like New York and Chicago, we are a safe location to live and raise a family, but I just feel concerned about an elderly woman living at home in any town, no matter how nice it is. What can I say to her to convince her that this is an essential thing that she needs for her home? I feel like I’ve tried everything.
I completely agree with you on this, and I truly understand your concern. It can be hard to convince people that are older that they might need to do something new or different. One reason that you might not be having any luck is possibly because you are asking your friend to believe something, when she has spent her whole life believing the opposite.
Like she has spent her whole life being part of a community that she finds to be loving and kind, and in a way, you are asking her to let that idea go and believe that she must now protect herself from that very community. Changes like this can be hard for older people to accept and it can make her feel like her whole world is falling apart.
It might be best to appeal to the other reasons that a security system might be a good buy for her, just so that she doesn't feel like the world she knows has disappeared. Tell her about the panic and alarm buttons. If she has ever had any sort of health issue or known someone that has, she has got to know that being able to press a safety button is a life saver. In an emergency, there is just no time to dial a number.
With most systems, all she has to do is hold the touchpad for a few seconds and that will summon fire and rescue, or it will summon the security home office and they will send help. Many systems designed for the elderly offer home security and alert buttons that they can wear as bracelets or necklaces and they don't even have to make it the alarm keypad. Hope this helps you out some.
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