Dementia friendly mobile phones

[Genesis]

Hi
I'm quite new on here and have only posted a couple of times but have found the information I have received invaluable. My husband has early stage Alzheimers and as his only carer (with care co-ordination and GP back up) I want to establish as manageable a life-style as possible for him. He has never got to grips with mobile phones (he's 74) but I have recently heard of something on the market which might be totally appropriate. Has anyone any knowledge or experience of such phones please?
And by the way, I think the support you give each other on here is just massive!! So encouraging to someone just starting this aweful journey.

Genesis x

 

[danny]

Hi Genesis. Have a look at this

Lots of other useful things on this site.



http://www.atdementia.org.uk/produc...9&product_id=234&page=1&referer=productSearch[d]asp[q]search[e]go[a]searchmethod[e]cats[a]cat_id[e]18[a]subcat_id[e]19[a]page[e]1

 

[Salli]

I saw this mentioned in newspaper last week. It can be pre-programmed with eight numbers but shows just the name of person to call.

 

[Pinkpea]

http://easiphone.co.uk/index.php?ma...s_id=2&zenid=c587e86924234324480d6960e36248bc

We have just bought this binatone BB200 for father. He doesn't have dementia but is frail, hard of hearing and doesn't adapt well to new technology. The reason we chose this one was because it had a docking station charger that he could manage. It has emergency buttons but we have programmed those with our numbers, which was appropriate for his situation. The screen is clear to read. But it will only be made to make phone calls. Texting is a step too far. While we were looking we found several that were pretty much of a muchness so I'm sure once you have found the right place to look, you will be able to pick the one that is right for you.

 

[Genesis]

THANK YOU Pinkpea, Salli and Danny. That's a lot of great information to go on. I will keep an eye on the one you mentioned Salli. I think that is the one I also saw in a different newspaper but the paper went walkabout before I read it properly! Must get a plan in place for the management of location of daily newspapers! Lol!

Thanks again everyone

Genesis x

 

[PeggySmith]

Just had a talk given by a specialist in assistive technology and he recommended the Doro.

There's a lot of stuff out there to help and he mentioned that the sooner you introduce stuff the more likely the person with dementia is to be able to use it.

 

[creativesarah]

We had a doro for Lucy she managed it and it had an sos button on the back

 

[nmintueo]

People have mentioned the Doro (they have various models) and the OwnPhone -


http://www.doro.co.uk/Products/Mobile-phones-and-accessories/

https://myownfone.com/
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/products/communications/mobile-phones/

The OwnPhone (or MyPhone as AgeUK calls it) isn't the cheapest phone or contract, but the simplest design I've seen. You order it pre-configured for the names and numbers you want (2 - 12 numbers (or the AgeUK site says 2 - 8 numbers)). Including a '999' button is optional; if present, the user has to actually press that button three times to make a 999 call.

A previous poster mentioned "Alzheimer! Phone" (or similarly, "Easy! Phone"), a smartphone app (including a free version) that he created, which looks very interesting:

I am the caregiver for my beloved wife since four years. ... I wrote a small app for Smartphones, which I have published recently for free. It works rather fine here. The Smartphone is untouched on the table and accepts selected calls. My wife can speak off easily whithout touching the phone. Unwanted calls are blocked. Calling is carried out just by pressing the associated picture of pre-selected persons.

Maybe it helps other caregivers, too. See Google Play Store on play.google.com and search for "Alzheimer phone" or com.AlzheimerPhone.com.

See also later thread re the similar-sounding "Big Launcher" app:
Mobile phone dilemma
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?71485

My husband is absolutely delighted and immediately phoned his sister to tell her how easy it was to use.

A common design issue with many mobile phones is that the Off switch is the same button as 'End Call'. Predictable consequence:
mobile - inadvertent power off
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?64227

For landline phones, you can get phones or accessories with speed-dial just by pressing a photo button, or incoming-calls-only phones with no dial at all. (later post below).

 

[Genesis]

Thanks again precious people. Loads here to go on and it gives me pleasure to think I can buy my hubby a Christmas pressie that he can use. He wants the contact a phone could bring but he has become so techno-phobic.

Blessings all round!

Genesis x

 

[bru123]

Hi,just to let you know that I agree with pinkpea,the binatone is the simplest-cheapest phone ,I got this for my wife to replace the same but older model she had for a few year,s( even before AD she was a complete technophobe),it has a large clear display & keypad,simple docking station,3 emergency button,s(M1,M2,M3) & it is not locked to any network so use,s any pay n go ,,they are on Ebay-mobile phone,s-binatone for £35 inc postage,,hope this is useful,,bru

 

[mamano]

Similar to MyPhone/MyCell except corded.

Thanks to all for info.

Does anyone know of a landline phone that is close to the simply use of MyPhone.

 

[nmintueo]

Does anyone know of a landline phone that is close to the simply use of MyPhone.

Simplified landline phones: nitram found suppliers such as Interquartz which offer special application phones, including programmable phones that can only call one preprogrammed number (or models with ten preprogrammed numbers, or with no buttons (for incoming calls only)).



You can find landline phones that have a standard keypad plus some speed-dial photo buttons, such as this:

There may be ones that have the speed-dial buttons only; here's one where the illustration shows it has a protective lid to cover the numeric keypad, leaving (almost) no buttons exposed other than the photo-dial buttons:

... although the manual makes no mention of that feature, which isn't really helpful; you could ask the supplier. I expect in many cases, though, people would want a phone where the user can't just flip up a panel and start pushing buttons. I've seen it priced from £30 inc delivery to £60 + delivery.

Otherwise, you could get a speed-dial photo button accessory and plug in a dialless phone.

I found a wall-mounted phone worked better because it was obvious to Mummy when the phone wasn't replaced (because it was dangling there).

Telephone Left Off The Hook - a solution
http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/showthread.php?52964