An Eventful Morning

This past week we received a telephone call from one of our Mobile Supervisor’s stating that he had been contacted by a Genesis Guard who services a Strata that is located in the downtown area in reference to a situation involving a potentially ill tenant.

The tenant in question had recently suffered a stroke and his friends were becoming concerned as they had not heard from him for several days and he was as well not responding to telephone calls.

Upon hearing this information, my Guard immediately contacted the resident property manager and together they went with the tenants friends and attempted to get a response by knocking on the door once again. One of the tenants friends produced a key that had been given to them for emergencies and the level of concern was so high that the property manager at that point authorized it’s use………. to no avail.

The key did not work and would not open the door.

As there was no further information available in reference to contact information regarding the tenant a decision was made to call the police, who responded quite promptly but unfortunately were unable to do anything about the situation because nothing “concrete” had been established. It was their advice to call a locksmith and have the door lock drilled out with our security then entering into the premises and completing a check to ensure that the tenant was in fact healthy.

We then immediately called Action Lock and Security who sent an amazing man by the name of Jim to assist us with the task of opening the door. Jim completed this job in less than 5 minutes; however the door still would not open as we soon discovered that a deadbolt had been installed as well and was locked.

To the people in the hall this provided an obvious fact; someone must be inside as the door had been locked from inside of the apartment.

Convinced now that the tenant was in fact home and not responding, Jim had the idea of cutting the deadbolt away from the outside and thus being able to gain access to the unit.

Once again, Jim completed this task in less then 5 minutes.

Once the door was open, our Guard and the Account Manager for that building (we sent him as the situation developed) entered into the unit and began calling out the tenants name and asking if he needed assistance.

The Account Manager entered the living room area and turned to the right at which time he was able to view a man laying on the floor beside an open bedroom door. He went to the man and immediately offered assistance and asked for 911 to be called.

Long story short…………

This poor man had been lying on his bedroom floor for over 4 days and was unable to get up or call out for assistance when people did arrive and knock on the unit’s door.

My Account Manager, along with our Guard provided assistance and comfort to the man until the emergency vehicle arrived and qualified paramedics assessed the situation. Thankfully, the paramedic seemed to think that the man was in pretty good shape considering the ordeal he had just gone through and our Account Manager was shocked to hear that this is a very common problem.

I urge all people who are at risk and live alone to take steps to ensure that this never happens to them.

Schedule check-in’s with friends and relatives and make sure that an emergency contact list is available for use in these situations.

Medical alert systems are on the market and most alarm companies, including Genesis, are able to install these systems at a reasonable price. These systems operate in different ways but after hearing about today I would recommend the pendant type that you wear around your neck.

At the push of a button, your monitoring company may be notified of a medical emergency and dispatch the appropriate care to your location.

At the end of the day, we are all just very glad that we were able to assist in this critical moment and wish all the best to this man and his speedy recovery.