A fall that didn’t ring alarm bells

EVERy morning at 10am, Ron, my sister-in-law’s neighbour, walks from his bungalow across the adjoining driveways for a coffee and chat. He is a widower. After the death of Elsie’s husband, this became a daily ritual. They are never short of conversation. Ron has lived an interesting life with many stories to tell. They are early risers, reading their newspaper and doing the crossword, which they discuss. Listening to music is a shared interest. On Monday afternoons, he takes her over to his home to watch a video. Mostly old films. Elsie is quick to tell you: ‘There’s nothing going on, you know. No kissing or anything like that’. Elsie is 93. Ron is in his 80s. One morning, Elsie did not answer the door. Ron knew it took time for her to get to the door so he waited, knocked again, louder. Still no Elsie. He went to the front door, rattled the letterbox and looked through it. There was no sign of her. Concerned, he phoned her. No reply. He found her son’s number in the telephone directory, rang it and got no reply. Keith and his wife would be at work. It was no use searching for her elder son’s number in the local directory; he lived out of the Peterborough area. Ron is a retired Red Cross worker, trained to deal with emergencies. He rang his daughter in Essex, asking if she could find the elder son’s number on her computer. She did. He rang it, unaware that Brian and Christine were on holiday. There was no reply. So he kept on ringing the two numbers every few minutes for a bit longer — until eventually Keith answered. Meanwhile, Elsie was lying on the mat at the side of her bed unable to move. At midnight, getting into bed, she had slipped and fallen. Her eye felt as if a boxer had punched it and her cheek was sore. Throughout the night she’d called again and again: ‘Please, please, someone come and help me.’ She knew no one could hear. She was cold, so she struggled and pulled the duvet over her as best she could. She heard the telephone ringing and Ron knocking. She shouted, but of course he couldn’t hear. At 1pm, 13 hours after she fell, Keith and Ron came to her rescue and called the doctor. Elsie was lucky. She was shaken but only had a black eye and a few bruises. Elsie has a pendant alarm. Fearing she might roll on it and bring out the paramedics when not needed, she was in the habit of not wearing it in bed. She need not have feared. Had she accidentally set off the alarm, a voice would have talked to her, asking questions assessing her needs before paramedics were sent. That was the last night Elsie’s pendant alarm stayed on the bathroom windowsill. So, this tale shows that we oldies with alarms should appreciate that they are our lifeline and should be worn at all times when alone in the house or garden.

Sylvia Rowley, Manchester.