Review of the Safeguardian GPS Safety Cell Phone

This is a review of the Safeguardian GPS safety cell phone sold by LifeGuardian Medical Alarm Systems.

The Safeguardian is advertised as a GPS safety cell phone with 24/7 monitoring.

The phone is set up with a one-touch button that calls the monitoring center, but it also works as a cell phone to call other people. You can program in up to 20 numbers that can be dialed by selecting them from the built-in address book. There is no numeric keypad. It also has 4 speed dial numbers on the front.

The phone has its own number, and it can receive incoming calls from anyone.

If turned off, the battery lasts several months.

Personal Assistance with the CARE button:

The user can get 24/7 personal assistance by pressing the CARE button. This is the button that makes the call to the medical emergency monitoring center, but if you’re not having an emergency the person can also help you with other things. Your Personal Assistant can help you place phone calls, assist with driving directions, provide location information of local banks, gas stations, restaurants and even medical facilities anywhere in the United States.

For medical emergencies:

When you press your CARE button, your Personal Care Center knows who is calling and we will answer your call by name. At the same moment, your complete personal information displays for your Care Specialist.

Based upon the information you voluntarily provide, the company sets up and maintains a database of information including detailed personal information, a phone book of your family and friends, your doctor or medical facility of choice even a brief medical history, existing medical conditions and/or critical medications so that they can advise emergency services of any special needs or conditions you may have. That information can save emergency personnel valuable time when every second counts.

The Personal Care Assistant is also a professional dispatcher who is able to contact and dispatch the nearest EMS/Paramedics, police, fire or roadside assistance services to assist you as necessary.

The built-in GPS system allows the monitoring center to know exactly where you are and find the nearest emergency responders quickly.

Built in fall detector:

A fall, at home or anywhere, can be a serious medical incident especially for the elderly. The GPS Safety Cell Phone is the first mobile cellular medical alarm device to offer a built-in fall detector.

Upon detection of a possible fall, the GPS Safety Cell Phone can contact the 24/7 call center to report the incident. Your Personal Care Assistant can then call the phone to confirm if all is OK, call family members to alert them or dispatch EMS to your precise location.

Who this phone is for:

I visualize this phone being used by an elderly person who has never owned a cell phone and does not see value in having a full featured phone like the Jitterbug (which, by the way, also has emergency and concierge services available).

Cost:

The cost for 60 minutes of airtime per month plus the 24/7 medical monitoring is $59 per month. Extra minutes are 15 cents each. There is an activation fee of $99.

Concerns:

From looking at an image of the phone, the numbered speed dial buttons look as if they would be a little hard for people with low vision to see.

In some of their marketing materials the company seems just a bit out of touch. For example, when talking about the GPS locator services, they suggest that an authorized person could find the location of the person with the phone, including Alzheimer’s patients, dementia sufferers, young children, high school/college students on campus and even male or female professionals working alone. Personally, I think it’s unlikely that you could get a high school or college student to carry a phone like this, and it’s even more unlikely that a male or female professional would carry it when a smartphone is more aligned with their needs. This isn’t a big deal, of course, but when a company seems to misunderstand the appeal of their product to different demographics, it concerns me. Also, I doubt the phone would be easily usable (except for the emergency button) by someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Comparing this to other products:

This product has more features than some other emergency cellular services, but at the risk of introducing more confusion for the user. The Jitterbug is cheaper and I think it will be better because it will be more familiar to someone who has used a phone their whole life. Unless you’re going to go with a one-button unit, I think having a keypad is helpful because it doesn’t artificially limit the usefulness of the phone.

In terms of cost, at the time of writing, the Jitterbug has a plan that gives you 100 minutes a month for $20. Monitoring and concierge services are $15, for a total monthly cost of $35, which is a lot cheaper than the $59/mo cost of this unit.

Please take a look at my full review of the Jitterbug with 5Star Personal Security.

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