This last summer brought unexpected surprises of…. Retired EMF clients!

It was incredibly refreshing to work with smart and savvy retirees who are wayyyyyyy ahead of their peers in terms of EMF awareness. I also had the chance to work with some new devices I hadn’t had a chance to until then!

Emergency response and medical alert systems for seniors.

Reading this out loud, it sounds like the biggest, boring snoozer, I know. But the inner sixth grader in me who had just gotten the latest Bay City Rollers album was bouncing up and down and couldn’t wait to dive in!

Since we’re smack dab in the holiday season, you might have family members or close friends who have these and wondering what these are doing from an EMF perspective?

They might sound a little fancy and complicated (they’re not) and I’m going to unpack this and tell you how these things work from an EMF perspective.

You’re going to learn about the three basic components – personal or wearable devices, in-home mountable devices, and transmitters.

#1. Personal devices are the things that are worn around the leg, the wrist, etc. If the person wearing them needs assistance, a button on them can be pushed to call for help.

From an EMF perspective, there are two basic scenarios for these:

• They constantly transmit (similar to a cell phone always looking for a cell tower to connect to) or,
• They don’t send any signal until the button is pushed (think of a key fob for a car), which is what you’ll find in the more simple or older versions.
• These are the best types a signal isn’t sent until that button is pushed.

Regardless of what type they are, the EMF field that is sent out is radio frequency, and there’s also a constant magnetic field from the battery they are running on.

#2. There are also small devices mounted in a home (usually on walls). These are similar to the wearables mentioned above, except they’re square or rectangular-ish, also with a button and typically placed in every room to be able to call for help easily.

These create radio frequency when the button in pushed and the signal is sent out. If they are battery-powered, a constant magnetic field is created just like the scenario above for the wearable devices. If these plug into a socket, an additional constant electric field is created.

#3. The third element is the transmitter. Transmitters are also part of both of these systems.

When that button gets pushed from a wearable or the small device mounted on a wall, the transmitter receives that signal and then broadcasts the message to the service provider for help basically saying “Hey, so-and-so in Unit #123 needs help – please get out here STAT!”.

The transmitters can look like an internet modem – a small square box, and usually with antennas. These typically broadcast radio frequency continually wherever they are mounted, and the amount of radiation depends on how strong that signal is and how old the transmitter is (the older ones will transmit less than the newer ones).

They are hardwired into the wall, which means constant AC electric and AC magnetic fields are also created.

If this is a retired community of separate houses (think similar to a golf course), there can be an entire network for the emergency system throughout the whole community with transmitters scattered in the neighborhood, in different houses, or, possibly mounted outside on a utility pole or light, or in every home.

If it is a condo-type of community, these can be mounted in every unit or every floor. Most of these that I’ve seen in these type of buildings are mounted in every unit.

The basic idea with the transmitters is that there’s enough coverage for the entire community so that if someone needs help, the transmitters can receive the signal from anywhere and then call for additional assistance. (So that means No, you cannot shield a transmitter if you’ve ever thought about shielding them).

The challenge from a mitigation perspective is the system setups are variable depending how the entire community is set up, and how they’ve decided how the system will work. So no two communities will be alike in most cases.

Your EMF tip and best case scenario. An older system where the wearables and in-home mounted devices aren’t transmitting constantly and the transmitter is mounted far away from the home OR somewhere where the impact from the radiation is minimized (such as a garage, or where no one spends much time like the laundry room, etc.) is going to be the best situation.

Have you encountered these challenges with your older relatives or friends? Write back and tell me. I love getting your replies!

Risa

P.S. Did you know that I wrote a DIY EMF book called What The EMF? I’m real proud of it and you can click here to order it.