Alexa, Google assistant can help make aging in place safer
Safety can be a major concern if you’re a caretaker for someone with a disability or have a parent aging in place. It’s important to have measures that allow people to live independently, while still keeping them safe. h But how can you accomplish this? Smart assistants, like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, offer features and integrations that can make life a little safer for anyone. Still, they’re even more useful in the homes of vulnerable individuals. How? Can Alexa call 911? Sort of. h Let’s explore that and more of the best smart speaker features you can use to keep your loved ones – and yourself – safe. h If you have an Amazon Echo speaker in your house, you might already have access to more safety features than you realize. Alexa
Emergency Assist is Amazon’s suite of home security features. With Emergency Assist, you can say, “Alexa, call for help.” This command summons an Urgent Response agent, who can quickly send first responders (fire, police, or ambulance) your way. Not only that, but the Urgent Response agent can give the first responder information you previously entered into the Emergency Assist area of the Alexa app. This may include your gate code, information about medical conditions, pets on the premises or anything else pertinent. The agent can even tell the first responder where the call came from — specific to the room your Echo speaker has been assigned in the Alexa app.
Emergency Assist costs $5.99 per month or $59 per year if you’re a Prime member. Non-members can sign up, but the fee jumps to $7.99 monthly. Alexa Emergency Assist
From $6 per month at Amazon
Drop-in feature
If you need help from someone in your house, Alexa’s Drop-in feature is the perfect solution – and it’s free.
Well, sort of. You need to have more than one Alexa speaker, but they’re often deeply discounted during sale events like Prime Day and Black Friday. Even on a non-sale day, you can get a small Echo Pop speaker with Alexa for around $30.
Amazon’s Echo Pop speaker is affordable and can connect you to emergency services with just a voice command.
Once you have the hardware, you can use your Alexa speakers like a two-way intercom system. “Alexa, drop in everywhere,” will open up communication between the speaker you’re using and any other speakers in the house. You can also drop into specific rooms if you assign each speaker a name and location in the Alexa app. For example, you could say, “Alexa, drop in on Mom’s room,” or, “Alexa, drop in on the kitchen.”
Drop-In is a good feature if someone needs to call out for help or if you’d like to check in on someone without physically invading their space.
With the proper settings enabled, you can use this feature to connect speakers in different homes. So, if you wanted to check on a parent aging in place, you could drop in on their speaker and begin talking to them.
Amazon’s Echo Pop $31 at Walmart
Announcements
The announcement feature is more like a traditional intercom system and allows you to broadcast a message to all Alexa speakers in the house (or in a connected house).
If you need to get a message to everyone quickly, announcing is the way to go. “Alexa, announce ‘Can someone bring me more toilet paper?’ ”
Calls and messages
While Alexa cannot directly call 911 for you without the Emergency Assist subscription, it can call your contacts with a simple voice command.
You can use your Alexa device to call someone from your contacts, call a number you ask for digit by digit, or even make a group call. You create and name a group in the Alexa app, and then you can use the voice command, “Alexa, call my sisters,” or whatever the group may be.
Emergency calling
While Google Assistant cannot call 911 by default, a Nest Aware subscription enables it within the Google Home app on your phone. Emergency calling from a Google device connects you directly to the 911 call center closest to you (whereas Alexa can connect you to an Urgent Response agent who can contact emergency services for you). However, this feature won’t be useful if your phone isn’t nearby when you need to call for help. And if your phone is nearby, you don’t need Google at all to contact 911.
If you have sound detection enabled on your Nest Hub (Google Assistant smart speaker or display) or a Nest camera, you’ll get a notification of the sound of a smoke alarm, carbon monoxide alarm, or breaking glass. If you open the notification in the Nest app, you’ll find a button that allows you to contact 911 with just one tap.