Imagine waking up to a police officer standing over you to see if you are ok. For most of us this would be an alarming event and for Dona it was the reason she contacted IPAT for assistance. Dona has a hearing loss.  It is difficult for her to hear the phone ring, a knock on her door and the doorbell.  One day, Dona was tired and decided to take a nap. She took out her hearing aids and was soon fast asleep. Meanwhile, a friend came to visit and knocked on Dona’s apartment door several times and even tried calling her, but received no response.  This caused Dona’s friend to become worried and she contacted the building manager to open Dona’s door.  Dona had put the security chain on her door before lying down, so the building manager couldn’t enter the apartment.  The next step for Dona’s friend and building manager was to call the police.  The police entered Dona’s apartment and found her asleep in bed. They touched her arm to see if she was alive, and Dona immediately woke up!  She was alarmed to see a police officer standing over her and never wanted something like that to happen again, so she called IPAT. Through the Assistive Safety Devices Distribution Service, IPAT was able to provide Dona with some assistive technology (AT).  The Clarity AlertMaster AL10, is an alerting device that can notify you to the alarm clock, phone, doorbell, fire alarm, general sounds, and motion. For example, if someone rings your doorbell a light on the device will flash and the bed shaker that is included will vibrate.  In Dona’s case the bed shaker would have been exactly what she needed to wake her up. Now Dona is able to lie down and rest peacefully knowing that she will be alerted when someone is at her door. If you or someone you know would benefit from an alerting device, contact IPAT at 1-800-895-4728.

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