The Differences between Security Monitoring 
and Medical Alert/PERS Monitoring

Home health care monitoring for Medical Alert/PERS is not
the same as two-way security monitoring and requires
special focus on serving special needs clients and seniors.

Security monitoring is all about the efficiency of handling
a call. For obvious reasons, false alarms, or alerting the
central station when it is not a security emergency is
strongly discouraged. Even now with the strong push for
alarm verification either by two-way voice, video or
some other method, the focus is how quickly the central
station completes the call and gets off the phone.

Unlike Medical Alert/PERS operators, a traditional security
operator does not need extensive training. The traditional
security system will tell them exactly what is happening in
the house, whether it is a break-in or a fire, what part of
the house is being affected, etc. The operator then calls
the appropriate emergency department (police or fire),
relays the necessary information, and ends the call.

Monitoring for home health care or Medical Alert/PERS is
completely different than traditional security. Medical
Alert/PERS central station monitoring services makes
special efforts to make sure the user feels comfortable
pressing the call button anytime. They work to break
down the barriers that many special needs clients and 
seniors have about “being a bother”. We keep a
complete profile on each user including personal and
health information to be able to supply to the paramedics
if needed. We also request personal information such as a
call list of family, friends and neighbors who can help out
or “check in” on client or take care of a pet if needed.

The operator who monitors a Medical Alert/PERS customer,
needs to be personable, have patience and be thoroughly
trained in special needs and senior care. They need to be
aware of issues and possible disabilities that the user may
face such as limited mobility, loss of sight and hearing,
cognitive limitations, along with their social and spiritual
needs. Some Medical Alert/PERS monitoring centers may
even expect their operators to have medical or emergency
response training. The operator must talk to the customer
to determine if the “emergency” is physical or social, and
they need to respect the fact that either emergency could
be life threatening. A client who feels lonely, isolated, and
depressed can be in just as much danger as a client who
is feeling chest pains. This means that a monitoring center
that is set up to monitor traditional security systems may
not be qualified to monitor a Medical Alert/PERS system.

Keep in mind that for the most part, the leaders in the
Medical Alert/PERS market contract with a professional
Medical Alert/PERS monitoring facility that has a pure
focus mainly on the service. The service is the
differentiation between competitors. It’s all about the
monitoring service and providing peace of mind. As such, 
we have and are setting the standards for Medical
Alert/PERS monitoring services. These standards
include actually encouraging the user to push the button
“anytime” for “any reason” and never feel like they are
bothering someone or that the reason for the call is not
important. It may not be, however it’s viewed as better
to handle a call that is not important than not get one
that could be lifesaving because the person “didn’t want
to be a bother.”

One of the most important aspects of a Medical
Alert/PERS unit is to subscribe to a central station
monitoring facility who has the experience and is
committed to Medical Alert/PERS monitoring.
 

When choosing a special needs, medical or senior
response service, look for:

• Length of time they have been monitoring Medical
Alert/PERS equipment. Our contract facility has been
monitoring PERS equipment since 1973.

• Training or instruction provided to their phone
operators. specifically to handle Medical Alert/PERS
monitoring.

• Training on how to talk to seniors and special needs
clients and understanding the challenges that face your
75+ year old customers day to day.

• Training or instruction on issues that impact seniors
such as companionship, loss of hearing, loss of sight,
loneliness, restrictions in mobility and other physical
aliments, fear of being dependant on others, fear of
being a “bother” or “burden”. Frustration over not
being able to do what they use to take for granted, etc…

• Know their metric for how they measure the
performance of their operators. Is it an environment that
will take the time to deal with special needs clients and
seniors with a polite, professional and empathetic
“phone side manner”

• Understanding special needs and senior
issues and issues of monitoring Medical Alert/PERS
clients, dealing with a higher number of non-emergency
calls, the critical importance of seemingly “minor” or
“insignificant” details such as who will feed the fish?
Who will check the mail? The center must have a
contingency plan for dealing with these issues if the 
client is taken to the hospital.

• A service that will stay on the line until help arrives, no
matter how long it may take? Some calls will last less than
a minute or two, others may take 45 minutes or longer
until help arrives.

And also, be sure that the company you choose to do
business with is properly licensed and insured.

www.cslb.ca.gov                www.dcs.ca.gov/bsis