When you share a house with ageing parents, being nearby doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll hear them when they need you. Our bedrooms are at opposite ends of the house, and since my mum became unwell, I’ve been thinking more about what happens if she needs assistance during the night.
Getting up to use the toilet was my main concern. If Mum needed help, I didn’t want her to have to call out and hope I heard her. I wanted something she could use easily, even if I was asleep at the other end of the house.
We already had a wireless call-button system, but I eventually replaced it with one that could also send notifications to my phone. Having used both, I’ve found that the app makes a real difference.
Why I changed our call-button system
Our previous system worked through a receiver that sounded when someone pressed the button. It was useful, but whether I heard it depended on where I was in the house and how loudly the receiver was set.
The newer system gives us another way to receive an alert. It still has a receiver, but it also connects to the Tuya Smart app on my phone.
I bought the DAYTECH wireless caregiver pager with two call buttons, one for Mum and one for Dad. Although Mum’s nighttime toilet trips were the main reason I bought it, I wanted Dad to have a way to ask for help as well.
How we’ve set it up at home
I’ve placed the receiver in the kitchen and deliberately kept its volume low. I don’t need a loud alarm sounding throughout the house every time someone presses a button.
The app is what makes this arrangement particularly useful for me. As long as I have my phone with me and it’s receiving notifications, I don’t have to be near the kitchen receiver to know that one of my parents has pressed a button.
The system also allows different ringtones to be assigned to different call buttons, which could be helpful in a household where more than one person uses it.
So far, I’ve only used the app while I’m at home. I haven’t tested receiving alerts while away from the house, so I can’t comment on how reliably that works.
A little more reassurance at night
We’ve made a few practical changes around the house since Mum became unwell. One was installing rechargeable motion-sensor lights along the route between my parents’ bedroom and the bathroom.
Those lights turn on automatically as someone walks past, making the route easier to see without searching for a light switch. The call-button system addresses a different concern.
If Mum needs assistance rather than just better lighting, she has a way to let me know. She doesn’t have to find her phone or try to make herself heard from the other end of the house.
Neither arrangement removes every risk, but together they’ve made the nighttime routine feel more manageable.
The DAYTECH system we use
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We use the DAYTECH wireless caregiver pager, model BT009, with two call buttons and one receiver.
The buttons can be mounted on a wall or worn as pendants, and the receiver offers adjustable volume, different alert modes and a choice of ringtones. The system connects to the Tuya Smart app and requires 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi for its smart features.
The biggest advantage for me is having both the receiver and a notification on my phone. I had a receiver-only system before, so I can appreciate the difference.
There are some things worth considering before buying. App notifications depend on the phone’s settings and connectivity, and one Amazon reviewer reported occasionally missing phone alerts even though the receiver worked. The product also has relatively few customer ratings, so I’d give more weight to the features you actually need than to the star rating alone.
View the DAYTECH two-button caregiver pager on Amazon Australia
For readers in the United States
The exact DAYTECH BT009 system we use may not be available on Amazon US. A similar DAYTECH option includes two call buttons, a wristband button and a plug-in receiver, along with smartphone notifications through Wi-Fi. I haven’t personally tested this version, and customer reviews raise some concerns about reliability and connectivity.
View the similar DAYTECH caregiver pager on Amazon US
This is a household assistance system, not a professionally monitored medical emergency alarm. It shouldn’t be relied on as the only way to get help in a medical emergency.
What matters most to me
There are more sophisticated systems available, but I wasn’t looking for something complicated. I wanted Mum and Dad to have a simple way to let me know when they needed assistance, particularly during the night.
Knowing that Mum can press a button instead of trying to call out from the other end of the house gives me peace of mind. And having the app notification alongside the kitchen receiver is the feature that has made this system work better for us.
It’s a small practical change, but one I’m glad we made.
