About 6 weeks ago, I got a call from my sister who lives about 30 minutes south of my mother in Florida. Dawn, my sister, tells me she is taking mom to the hospital with a suspected kidney stone that really knocked her for a loop.

My mother, Theresa, (get it, Mother Theresa) was there for me during both of my bouts with Ovarian Cancer and now we have the opportunity to support her through this ordeal. Mom was in the hospital a week and then in a rehab center for another 2 ½ weeks.

I drove over from Palm Coast to Sarasota twice during a 3 week period and visited and helped where I could although my sister handled everything that needed to get done and more. 

In the hospital, mom admitted to the physical therapist that she only wears her “Lively”, a fall detection and GPS locating device, when she showers. He made her promise to wear it always unless she was charging it, at which point she shouldn’t be out and about or showering.

Dawn was all over it and called the Lively customer service line and asked that we be notified when mom’s Lively wasn’t at her home or be notified if she has a fall.  We both downloaded the app on all of our devices and were amazed at how easy it is to see where mom is at all times.

Because mom isn’t yet driving, my sister has her car so she can visit her and get whatever she needs without disrupting the daily routine of a one car family. Mom hasn’t driven since before her trip to the hospital. She has been home for about 2 weeks now and is gaining strength and graduating from a walker to a cane. Soon she will be driving and completely independent again.

After a week or so I went back to Palm Coast. We all felt it was fine for mom to stay alone.  Her building is secured with fob entry only and the elevators can’t run without a fob either. Well, after speaking with mom on the phone one evening at 6:30pm, Dawn and I get a notification from the Lively app that mom is “out and about” at 8:30pm. Impossible, she doesn’t have a car.

When we pinpointed her location on the map it said she was at “HOOTERS” in Sarasota!

Lively sent her an upgraded device the following week. Needless to say, she’s been home every since.