TELUS photoelectric smoke detector saved Catherine’s mom
Real Life Stories · Oct 25, 2021
"I recently moved to a intergeneration home to be able to take care of my elderly mother, who suffers from Alzheimer and high anxiety levels. I installed a few key solutions including smartdoor lock, video doorbell, remote control with a panic button, smoke detectors on every floor of the house etc. I sincerely cannot pick a favorite as they are all life changing. My mother can now see who rings at the door and she decides to whom she opens, which makes her feel secure. The system will automatically lock her doors when she forgot to do so and is 3km or more away from home. I get notified of unusual events if she opens her door in the middle of the night so I can make sure she doesn’t get lost during an Alzheimer event.
However, I can tell you the equipment that was the most surprising was the photoelectric smoke detectors. The house already had 3 smoke detectors, and my mom and husband both felt it was not necessary to get the additional smoke detectors. I felt differently and chose to have them installed, while keeping the ionization smoke detector too. Well, on 3 occasions the smoke detectors went off within 2 months of being installed. Twice because my mom forgot she had something on the stove. The third time was because she had an absence due to Alzheimer and put something in the over that was not meant for this and her apartment was filled with toxic smoke from the material that was being baked in the oven. On all 3 occasions, only the TELUS photoelectric smoke detectors went off, not the ionization ones. I immediately went in my Mom's apartment and evacuated her. The monitoring centre called me each time within 45 seconds of the alarm starting, and the response was so quick that on 3 occasions, I was able to handle the situation before it was too late. Believe it or not, the smoke was dense in the room, and the ionization detector never started during the 30 minutes it took to slowly evacuate all the smoke. I am so thankful I was presented with test video comparing the 2 smoke detectors which convinced me to buy them, and take a package with central surveillance. This was by far the best decision I took and most likely saved my mom’s life."
-Catherine, from St. Leonard, QC
