Case study: Being able to stay in my own home

Margaret Williams* has been widowed for almost 30 years, and lives alone in a rural Carmarthenshire village. One of her daughters lives in Scotland and the other, Clare, lives an hour’s drive away and visits her mum every weekend on her way back from work. Mrs Williams is fiercely independent and loves living in her flat.

Mrs Williams fell in her bedroom on New Year’s Eve in 2022 and could not reach her mobile or telephone to call for help. She had been on the floor for over 15 hours when Clare arrived to visit her on New Year’s Day and called an ambulance. She was taken to hospital as she had developed pneumonia as a result of lying on the floor for such a long time. When she came home a week later, she was understandably nervous about being alone and falling again, and Clare and her sister were worried about leaving her with no support.

Clare had seen an advert for CONNECT on social media, and the team called to fit a lifeline in the flat within a week. They explained how everything worked and made sure that both Mrs Williams and Clare knew how to use the pendant and watch.

Clare explained: “I work full time and living an hour away makes popping in to check on mam so difficult. I can’t pick her up if she falls, so knowing that the CONNECT responders will come out to help means that mam can stay in the flat she loves whilst staying safe.”

Since the equipment has been installed, Mrs Williams has had a few more falls, and every time the responders have reached her within 30 minutes, made sure she was safely back in her chair and even made her a cup of tea before leaving.

Mrs Williams said: “The response team are so friendly, and they never make me feel like a clumsy old lady. They really care, and without them I don’t think I could have stayed in my flat. I love living here and knowing that they can help if I do fall gives us all such peace of mind. I like that they call to check on me too. My daughters both work full time and even though we talk every night, it’s so nice to chat to the lovely staff from Delta in the afternoon.”

*Names have been anonymised