Your Minder Voice Record and Alarm

This is 100 times better than a multi-alarm phone app!!!! Great for all ages! Not just the elderly.
I purchased this for my husband, Bobby, who had dementia and all sorts of medical problems. He passed away in April of this year, but this was such a blessing to us and to him while he was alive. A multiple stroke victim, various cancers survivor, age 76, dysphagia, completely blocked carotid arteries, serious balance/gait inbalance, just all around confusion and difficulty understanding simple instructions. I work and couldn’t be with him during the day, and my brother stayed with him during the day while I was at work, but my brother had much difficulty with being confused about what medications to take at which times, especially since they changed often, even multiple times a month. Bobby was taking between 25-30 different medications, not including over the counter or vitamins/supplements at any given time and had several home health aides coming by at different times weekly (Physical therapist, nurse’s aide, LPN, speech therapist, wound care nurse). After much difficulty and having to call home multiple times a day to make sure his medication was administered correctly and pill reminders, etc. I found this and IT WAS A GOD SEND! Truly! I purchased the MedCenter pill 31 day organizer that goes with it and they together are especially wonderful. Now on to the unique clock features… The clock has 4 buttons on top, which are clearly labeled and color coded for ease of readability. A confused elderly person can remember to hit the yellow button, for instance, to light up the display, or the red button to turn off the alarm. One button tells the time and date, “The time is, 10:30 AM on Friday, June 20th” for example. We found this to be especially wonderful. Bobby would forget what day it was several times a day, and so he knew he could just tap this clock, which was right beside him, any time he wanted to find out the day, date or time. It also told the next time a pill was due, “Your next reminder will be 1 PM,” for example. On the back there is a recording button and 6 different slots that you can record about 30 seconds of a message, “Good morning, Honey. It’s time to take your morning dose in the morning pill section. I hope you have a great day. I love you!” If I had extra slots, for example we only needed 4 pill reminders, then I would leave little thoughtful messages for him on the other 2 slots, like “God loves you!” or “Hope your day is going good! I love you and will see you tonight!” or “Don’t forget to pray.” or “I left you some brownies in the kitchen.” or “don’t forget to drink your Ensure.” or “Guess what, Honey? I LOVE you!!!” or whatever. That way, he sort of felt like I was nearby all during the day and it was a comfort to him. You can also choose an alarm tone instead of personal message for any or all of the alarms, and the alarm goes off for about a whole minute, then repeats every few minutes again until they turn it off. So if it goes off while he’s in the restroom, he doesn’t miss it, but the other people in the house don’t have to listen to my sappy love messages until he gets out. It runs on electricity and has a battery backup, so no worries that it will lose power.Now that he is gone, I still use the alarm for various other times I need a personal message alarm. For example, I am a chronic late sleeper and snooze my alarm until the very last second and then I get up and have to rush just to get to work late. For some reason, in my drowsy state, I start reasoning…”I can shower in one minute, get dressed in 5 minutes, pull my hair up in one minute, put my make up on while stopped in traffic….” you get the drill. I have even accidentally turned my alarm completely off instead of snoozing it, and then I don’t wake back up until I’m already late for work. With this, I can program a personal message that snaps me back to reality, like, “Get up, you’re going to want time to get ready. Just get up already!” Hearing my own voice of reason helps me to not be lazy and to get on up. Then, I can set a second separate alarm, “Ok, it’s 6:30! You’re not up yet! Get your lazy tail out of the bed!” I know it sounds crazy to some, but I’m sure some of you can relate either with yourself or a teenager, or whatever.I can also set an alarm for one of my housemates (who are home all day), “Don’t forget to walk the dog.” or “Please put the roast on to cook,” or “don’t forget to water the plants,” or “Don’t forget to mow the lawn before it rains.” Think of all the many alarms you could set for yourself or someone in your home. You could set it in the living room with the message, “Don’t forget to lock up the house and turn off everything,” for a teen that might be coming in late. It’s going to go off every so often so it will catch them at some point when they get home. They might see a note, but they will hear this annoyingly until they do it.One last comment. The clock is just the right size. Not huge or heavy, but chunky enough to be easy to grasp and hold on to, and big enough so that the readout is nice and large. Love this alarm, and it’s light enough and sized right to travel with.

Returned, trying the older version instead
I debated which alarm to buy, this newer version in black, or the older white one. I went with this clock as it has 6 alarms instead of 4, and you can record your own personalized messages. I returned it because the sound quality of the personalized recording was awful. It was much quieter compared to the prerecorded messages, even if I tried shouting when I made the recordings. It also had a very scratchy sounding playback. My dad has horrible hearing so the personalized message was never going to work for him.Supposedly the older version of this clock has two sound settings (this one doesn’t) so hopefully the pre-recorded message on the older style will be even louder than this clock. This is “semi-loud” and really may not be loud enough for a hearing impaired person who has their TV turned up as high as it can go. I wish this product had a flashing LED light to alert someone who can’t hear (as hearing impairment and memory decline often go hand-in-hand in the elderly).It also occurred to me that maybe a personalized message was NOT the way to go with my dad. He is stubborn and fighting the losing battle to maintain his independence, so I’m afraid my personalized message might be perceived more as me “telling him what to do,” instead of a loving reminder! 🙂 The concept of this clock is fantastic, I wish it was made to last, and had a few more options like a blinking alarm and super-loud, high quality sound.Update: Got the older white version of this clock. I like it better. It has a “Loud” and “Extra Loud” setting that the newer version does not include and the sound seems better overall. The “Extra Loud” is a bit tinny but acceptable. You really can’t go wrong with the $40 deal of both the clock with the 31-Day MedCenter pill boxes.

The outer arrived with a broken battery cover so that it has to be taped top keep in place. I was not expecting this from purchase via Amazon. I could not get back with feedback or exchange/return request as was fully engaged with my father who had been hospitalised for heart failure, so I was already upset and had too much on my mind. Besides, the colour is also not what I had ordered. It arrived in silver, whereas I had ordered the one in black!

Very helpful reminder for the person having trouble with various tasks….not just taking pillsreminds one to feed the dog, let dog out, go to meals etc