The General is Watching:  A few weeks ago, I mentioned that my parents, my sister Cindy and my niece McKenzie took the train and spent a few days in Chicago.  Cindy and McKenzie were off from school because of spring break and my parents were interested in taking a little journey; so this trip was crafted for all to enjoy!
 
I have also mentioned in this space that I recently got my parents new medical alert devices.  The new ones come from Great Call.  They are small devices that are totally cellular based so they can be used anywhere.  They also automatically detect falls.  My parents, in effect, became my “beta-testers” for these new cellular based medical alert devices with fall detection.  I’ve mentioned before that my parents are good sports about letting me try out new electronic gadgets on them.  Sometimes my gadgets work and sometimes they have hiccups (like the Nest thermostat issue hiccup I mentioned a few weeks ago).  And for the record, I will be the first to acknowledge that sometimes all my “smart” technology isn’t so smart.
 
The Great Call buttons I got my parents are pretty slick.  Once all of your information is entered into your Great Call profile, the device is ready to help in the event of an emergency.  These devices have a number of great features, but I like their portability the most.  The connection to the central monitoring service is superfast and the live operators are quick to discover if there is a real emergency.  As I mentioned already they detect falls.  The devices have built in algorithms that can set off an auto connection to the monitoring service if specific conditions are met. One time my mom called and told me she dropped her button accidently but it never went off.  That initially caused me some concern because I started to wonder if these devices had a flaw; if one of them had fallen I wanted to make sure these devices were going to call the service.  After a few phone calls to Great Call they assured me that a device dropping to the ground may not always initiate and auto connection sequence because of the algorithms (formula or logic) built into the device.  A fall would “score differently” than the device dropping straight to the ground.  After listening to their explanation, I entertained the idea of trying to simulate a real fall so I could put the unit to the test.  But then I recalled I was over 50 and would probably hurt myself in the process (wouldn’t that have made an interesting bulletin article).  After hearing my plight, someone suggested I borrow a rescue dummy from the fire department to help simulate a real fall!  Thankfully, I’ve been too busy to go to that length yet!  But the idea of testing the device with a rescue dummy intrigued me!
 
Another feature of the device is its location services.  The location services of the device are meant to help the monitoring service and medical professionals know ones whereabouts in the event of an emergency.  The device can also be configured to allow family and/or friends to have access to device’s location too.  So, for example, if a family member dealing with dementia or Alzheimer’s wondered away from home and was wearing a device, a pre-authorized family member or friend could log into the system and ask to have a device located.  I’ve checked to see the accuracy of the location services while my parents were home but they gave me an opportunity to check its functionality while they were in Chicago.
 
One evening during their trip, I got a call from my mom and she asked me to figure out where they were at the time in Chicago.  At first, I didn’t understand they were testing me with the use of the Great Call device so I answered, “Hopefully not the hospital!”  That got some immediate responses from the peanut gallery.  I then realized they were calling to test me on the accuracy of the Great Call button.  Thankfully, I wasn’t too far from my computer and I had time to accept the challenge.  I learned that my mom was touting the many features of the Great Call service and she wanted to show my sister how well it worked.  Being that I like these little challenges, I was going to be as accurate as I could be in locating them.  I told my mom I would call her back in a few minutes.  Now we don’t have any of the Friends and Family apps installed so I had to accept the challenge by only using the Great Call device.  Within a minute or so I figured out they were at a TGI Fridays restaurant next door to their hotel in downtown Chicago.  My sister and niece were totally amazed I was able to answer the question so quickly.  Thankfully this little technology challenge worked in my favor.  After they congratulated me for “finding” them so quickly, I heard my sister ask my parents, “Does he watch you all the time?”  I wish I could have been there to see and hear the real response from my mom.  The real answer is no, but with all the technology I have them hooked up with I’m sure they wonder from time to time how much the General is really watching!
 
Congratulations to the SJA Class of 2018:  Elsewhere in the bulletin, you will see the names of the St. Joan of Arc School Class of 2018! We celebrated their graduation this past Friday.
 
In my homily at the graduation mass, I encouraged the graduates to remember the priorities I often spoke about during my homilies.  I reminded them that of all the priorities they will establish throughout life, faith and family must ALWAYS be at the top of their list. The world will certainly pull them in many different directions but they must always keep their faith and their family as the utmost priorities in their life.  I also asked the graduates to pray daily and to make sure that the Church and the Sunday celebrations of the Eucharist remain an absolute and essential aspect of their life.  Ultimately, I implored them to remain close to Christ and to use their smartphone, social media and the internet as tools to increase their faith.  Recalling finally the words of St. Paul to the Philippians (4:13), I reminded them that they can do all things through Christ who strengthens them!
 
Please congratulate and pray for these eighth graders as they celebrate this milestone in their life.
 
Enjoy the week.  Know of my prayers.
 
In Christ,
 
gmb
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