Jude Harper's Story- Part 1

Welcome and thank you for reading the first of my 2 stories about this wonderful and valuable home communications appliance.

I would like to inform you that the first story does not end on the happiest of tones. It is about a neighbor of mine I have lived adjacent to in New York City for the last 11 years. For privacy and respect, I am going to refer to him as Mr. X.

The second story is about how my family is proactively using our HTG Grand Care system.

Mr. X and I met in a non-traditional way. Eleven years ago I remember arriving home from work, I was an electrician then, to see what seemed a senior generation gentleman making his way up the 5 front steps to our building. Mr. X was using a cane for balance and it was clear that he was able to open the door by himself. However, I did what any gentleman and neighbor would do, I made the extra effort to make sure I made it to the top of the steps first so I can open the big glass doors to our lobby before him. As I made it to the door, Mr. X was just one and a half steps away.

I opened the door, turned, looked, and smiled with a hello like nod to my neighbor. It was then I was surprised by his reaction. Mr. X was indeed upset by my efforts and began yelling at me and refused to continue into the lobby of our building as long as I held the door for him.

Ever since that day I understood and respected that he was a very independent man and probably did not want to feel like a burden to those he interacted with.

The how we met circumstances was dismissed by both of us, and over the next 10 years, it was not rare to ride the elevator with him or to get a wave from him as he humbly went about his multi weekly trips to to the doctor to have his basic vital signs verified, or as he sat in the park watching the neighborhood dogs play, reading books, or playing chess and cards with friends.

A few days after I received our GrandCare system. I was talking with the superintendent of my building about all the wonderful proactive attributes the system promotes as it relates to families and caregivers.
A few minutes more of talk and my superintendent mentioned that this would have been great for Mr. X to have in his home. I was sorta confused as why he was talking in past tense while he spoke. But it was then I learned that one week ago, Mr. X was scheduled to visit his doctor as usual. When the transport personnel arrived, they waited and waited for him to come down to the lobby. After a few moments and a multitude of failed attempts to contact Mr. X through the building intercom. Our superintendent was informed, so he proceeded upstairs to check why Mr. X did not respond.

Mr. X was home and shortly there after it was discovered why he did not answer the door. Unfortunately this is where this story ends.

For the next few days , as I setup HTG’s first GrandCare system, there were many times I could not help but think about the many proactive and informational functions of the GrandCare system and the” what ifs” should Mr. X and his family have had known about it

Would things be different today?
This story was the catalyst of why I have written my second story, this story is about my immediate family.