The other night I bumped into a friend who told me how his father-in-law had gone out to get his newspaper on a cold, snowy day -- and had unfortunately fallen down in the snow and suffered a broken hip. This could have been a tragic story if a neighbor didn't happen by to see the older gentleman, immediately calling 911.

My friend's father-in-law was taken to the hospital and treated, but not before he suffered from extreme hypothermia. Admittedly, he might have frozen to death if his neighbor had arrived a bit later.

The incident caused my friend and his wife to consider buying one of those devices you see on TV -- "I've fallen and I can't get up." It's a button that you wear around your neck like a necklace. If you fall down or have a similar accident, you can press the button and the device will call 911, and send a signal with your exact location -- powered by a global positioning system.

In my friend's words, "It only costs $20 a month."

With that I asked my friend what cell phone service he uses, to which he answered Verizon. Knowing the price war and technology one-upmanship that Verizon, Cingular and other cell phone vendors have been going through, I suggested that he consider getting an extra cell phone instead.

Last year, I would not have made this suggestion. But with the recent service changes, my friend can get a service that would suit his needs better -- and save 50 percent of the monthly cost at the same time.

My friend's concern was that it had to be easy to use -- especially in emergency situations. So I pulled out my own cell phone, pressed the button on the side; said "home" into the mouthpiece (actually the tiny hole that serves as the mouthpiece on modern cell phones), and showed him how it automatically connected to my home phone to call my wife.

This was a demonstration of how the technology would work a bit differently than as a standard phone. An elderly phone owner can program a voice-activated phone to call neighbors, relatives and emergency numbers, enabling him to connect swiftly to the most appropriate party depending on the situation.

If the caller is not unconscious or otherwise unable to speak, he can give additional information. If the phone is GPS capable (which most are), the GPS can be used by the emergency authorities to locate him quickly whether or not he is able to give proper directions. If he is unable to speak, the caller ID function at the receiving end can tell the call is from him. So it's fast, flexible, and helpful in emergencies.

Since the major cell phone vendors are allowing their users to add phones for $10 each, it's also cheaper than traditional methods -- and the device can be used as, get this, a telephone when it is not an emergency device. If that's not benefit enough, elderly Mom or Dad can make no-cost phone calls to their children as part of their family share plan.

To set up an emergency calling system like the one I outlined to my friend, make sure that the cell phone has built-in GPS and is capable of voice dialing. When you activate the phone, make sure that full GPS also is active.

Finally, teach the phone to recognize key phrases that trigger dialing -- using the voice of the person who will be using the emergency phone. Easy, distinguishable phrases are best, such as "home," "John's house," "John's cell" and "911."