The Story of Emilie Charleston

Mrs. Emilie Charleston is in her nineties. She has been a high school teacher in her hay days and is principally very upright with a charismatic persona and high self-esteem. She has lost her beloved husband Mathew and son Maven long back in the year 1980 in a dreadful car accident of which she has also been a casualty convalescing on a hospital bed for nearly two months. She has seen it all in her prolonged lifetime – the ups and the downs and the fight for existence after the accident that has shaped her as a resilient person.

Till date Mrs. Charleston lives independently and shares her positive attitude with everyone she meets with. Neighbors revere her, and often send their children over to her place to spend time with her just to ensure their wards receive the right kind of morality to grow up as a better human being. Mrs. Charleston also enjoys the association with children who love to hear stories from her. The daily routine for Mrs. Charleston is fixed from the morning till the time she goes to bed. She is particular about taking her medicines, visiting the GP as per schedule and maintaining the right kind of diet she has been advised.

In spite of everything going right with Mrs. Charleston, her neighbor Martha feels that she still requires some extra security considering her age. It’s only a few days ago when Mrs. Charleston had to go through a cataract surgery, Martha had to stay back with her for a few days when she saw that Mrs. Charleston had problems with her hip. Thus, she decided to gift Mrs. Charleston with a safety alarm device from Doctor Alert as she had found good reviews of their service in social media. She called up their helpline number and ordered for the device with an annual monitoring package.

When Martha explained Mrs. Charleston about the device, she was amazed hearing the benefits the device offered her. The device is waterproof, GPS enabled, had two way speaker phone, can connect with the monitoring centre readily on pressing the SOS button, three emergency numbers can be registered, and in need she could easily connect with any of the numbers. The device could detect sudden falls with 95% accuracy; it can also notify the monitoring centre in case no motion is detected apart from the time Mrs. Charleston generally remains asleep. It was like having a guardian angel. Martha was also relieved from the worry that there was no one to care for Mrs. Charleston whom she revered so much.

Life was sailing smoothly till the time the Doctor Alert team received a “No Motion” alarm one afternoon. They called back on the device but there was no response. A call was made to Mrs. Charleston’s landline but the effect was the same. Finding no other way out, the support team of Doctor Alert called up Martha as she enlisted her number as an emergency contact. Fortunately, Martha was there at her residence and she rushed to Mrs. Charleston’s place in no time. She tried to call her but she too received no response from inside the house.

Meanwhile, Doctor Alert support team reported the case as an emergency to the 999 operators. A paramedic team equipped with all possible amenities was sent to Mrs. Charleston’s residence. In Martha’s presence the team broke in to the property looking for Mrs. Charleston. She was not to be found in her drawing room, study or in her bedroom. It was silent everywhere. All lights were turned off barring the table lamp by the side of her bed. The bed linen was laid as if no one had slept on it the whole night. The only place left was the bathroom. They found it locked from inside and it was evident Mrs. Charleston should be there inside. Calling her didn’t help so the door had to be unlocked. Mrs. Charleston was found submerged in the bath tub. She was breathing but seemed to have no strength to pull herself out of the tub. She was unable to speak and her expressive eyes sent out a message that she needed immediate help. The paramedic team suspected a Cerebral Thrombosis. They found Mrs. Charleston’s left side was totally paralyzed and barely had any sense. She was rushed to hospital for immediate treatment as her life was in grave danger.

Martha thanked the Doctor Alert team to have acted so promptly in such a situation that at least gave some hope to save Mrs. Charleston. The support team also came to know that Mrs. Charleston slipped and fell in the bath tub just before going to bed when the cerebral stroke happened and since then she has been there in the tub unable to move. It was only for the pendant the team came to know about her situation.

Back at the monitoring centre, the success of saving a life was celebrated. Later when the team contacted Martha, she informed that though Mrs. Charleston is out of danger, she would have to lead an assisted life hence forward.