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I live in a small home town. I asked the very same thing. I received an unusual answer that was interesting and easy. If a neighbor noticed the porch light not turned off by morning to call or check on them.
I now do that with my neighbors.
also, I keep my car clicker with my alarm close to me. My neighbors know if the car alarm sounds non stop. Call 911 for me because I cannot call.
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When we had to keep an eye on my in-laws I met (secretly because in-laws were in denial) with their next door neighbor and made an arrangement: the neighbor would bring the newspaper to them personally every day since we didn't want our LOs to venture to their distant mailbox in the icy MN winters. I gave the neighbors permission to read the paper first, as a thanks. I also gave them grocery store and Target gift cards to use on my in-laws behalf to keep them stocked and prevent them from driving. I agree that we need to fold in friends and neighbors as much as possible. In particular, if you belong to a congregation or club, try to pick a "point person" to check on you. If there's someone you trust you can give them the secret location to your house key (which I hope you have somewhere outside) so they have easy access for a wellness check. If you live in a small town you can let the police + fire dept know you are a single senior.

There are wearable alert devices that ping the control center if it detects the wearer is horizontal at an odd time of day or for an inordinate amount of time. I don't know the brand but I know they are a thing. My very seniors aunties in FL both have the alert necklace and they've used it when one of them fell. Worked great!
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Yes, there are apps and appliances you can use. But you would be better off creating human connections. This is not just an issue for seniors.

Some examples:

Mil has grocery delivery, if she does not call in her order on Monday, they call her.

Elderly Aunt, had her Postie knock on her door and hand her her mail each day, he was the one who found her when she broke her hip.

Have your paper boy knock on your door.

Call a friend every day, by a certain time. It can be a different friend each day. But have a plan in place if you are unable to connect.

As a culture we are losing our human connections. There was a time that if the milk bottles were not brought in, someone would knock on the door. Of course most of us no longer have milk delivery, but we have also lost daily human contact.

Perhaps it is a service that needs to be developed and provided. Outside of home care, but a friendly call each day.
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worriedinCali Nov 2019
Tothill, in the US paper boys are kind of a thing of the past. Also Many newspapers only print 3 times a week now (if that), and adults deliver the paper very early like 5-6am and they throw the papers out the window of a car! Asking The paper boy to know isn’t a solution for those of us in the US. don’t know about other countries though.

grocery deliveries are done online. We don’t call them in. No chain store will notice & call if you don’t place an order one week. Maybe a small mom & pop would notice but maybe they wouldn’t.
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There’s always medical alert buttons. They can be purchased with gps tracking but I find them to be a little pricey. An alternative is Life360. It’s a gps tracking for families to be able to monitor their kids, etc. much more affordable. You would just have to have a member of your family or a friend do it with you so they could be monitoring in the event something happened.
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anonymous979634 Nov 2019
It is an app and I know several families that use it and love it. God luck!
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