When Mary Ferrara felt chest pains last December, she simply pressed a button on her wrist.

Igor Lyulyev, the live-in superintendent at the B’nai B’rith Federation House in South Orange, came running.

“I was having a heart attack,” she said. “Igor called 911, the ambulance came right away, and they took me to Saint Barnabas Medical Center.”

Two months later, as she sat in the building’s library, Ferrara said she is “all right now. But if I didn’t have the alarm I would have tried to call 911 myself and I would have started screaming.”

The 600 residents of the five buildings operated by the Jewish Community Housing Corporation of MetroWest now have the capability to call for help immediately, thanks to a $136,000 grant from the Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey.

The money enabled the JCHC to purchase and install the Lifeline Emergency Call System, which is being provided free of charge to all of the housing agency’s tenants. The new computerized system links residents and building officials.

“In a case of ‘Help, I fell, and I can’t get up,’ it means having a device that permits you to contact somebody who can help provide you with emergency service,” said JCHC executive director Harold Colton-Max.

The system replaces a system of pull-cords and other fixed devices in the apartments.

“If you were right there, you could pull the cord and an alert would be sent out within the building to the front office,” said Colton-Max. “That is all well and good if you are within a few inches of it when you become ill or suffer whatever problem. Unfortunately, there are times when that is not the case.”

The new system can be used by residents anywhere inside their building. The alert provides management with the resident’s name and location at any time the individual is in the building.

In addition to the B’nai B’rith Federation House, the life-saving devices are also in use at the JCHC’s other residences: Jewish Federation Plaza in West Orange, Jewish Federation Towers in Irvington, the Lester Senior Housing Community in Whippany, and the Village Apartments in South Orange.

Last year, Ferrara’s next door neighbor, Kay Trush, felt dizzy. She pushed a button on a pendant she wears around her neck.

“I was OK in a few minutes. I didn’t need to go to the hospital, but when I needed it, help was there.”

Lyulyev smiled as he discussed the system’s benefits.

“We’re there 24/7,” he said. “If someone needs help, we can do it.”