Living alone: how to make sure your loved ones are alerted if you are taken ill

Living alone is often a choice, and a freedom. But there is one situation nobody likes to think about: a fainting spell, a fall, a sudden illness, and no one there to notice. When you live alone, hours can pass, sometimes a whole day, before anyone starts to worry.

The same question arises for a single parent looking after their child at the weekend: if the adult is taken ill, a young child will not necessarily know what to do. Here are six simple precautions so that, if something happens, your loved ones find out quickly.

1. Agree on a regular check-in with someone close

A call every evening, a message every morning: the simplest safety net is a routine agreed in advance with someone you trust. If the message does not arrive at the usual time, they know they should call, then drop by or send someone. What matters is that the routine is regular, and that silence is a clear signal for everyone.

2. Don't rely on memory alone

The weakness of a routine is that it gets forgotten, on either side. A tiring evening, a night out, a phone on silent, and your loved one no longer knows whether the silence is normal. An automatic reminder at a fixed time makes the system reliable: you don't have to think about it, and your loved ones don't have to guess.

3. Leave a spare key with someone nearby

If a loved one gets worried, they still need to be able to get in. A neighbour, a friend or a relative who lives close by and has a spare key can save precious time, and spare the emergency services from forcing the door.

4. Make your medical information easy to find

If you are taken ill, the emergency services need to know very quickly which medicines you take, what you are allergic to and who to contact. Keep this information on you, in your wallet, and at home, somewhere visible. On your phone, also fill in the built-in emergency medical card: it can be viewed from the lock screen.

5. Keep your phone charged and within reach

Your phone is your first way of raising the alarm. Keep it charged, close to you at night, and learn how to call the emergency services from the lock screen. In most European countries, 112 works everywhere.

6. If you look after a child on your own, prepare them

As soon as they are old enough to understand, teach your child that if you stop responding, they should call the emergency services or a trusted adult. Put the important numbers up at their eye level. And plan for a solution that does not rely entirely on them: a toddler will not be able to raise the alarm.