My father is in assisted living. He has a mobile phone but rarely answers it because it is not turned on or the ringer volume is too low so I cannot often reach him for hours. In extreme cases I can call the facility, but that's a hassle. Is there a small monitor that can be mounted on a desk or table, that is always on, that all it does is display a large text that I send so my father can see it and then he can call me? If it doesn't exist maybe this be a good product to invent!
There are alerts that are used for people that are hard of hearing that will alert them to a phone ringing, a doorbell ringing. Typically it can be a flashing light that will indicate a phone ringing.
Most phones have a "vibrate" so even if the ringer is down the phone will vibrate to let him know there is a call or text.
If you can get into the habit of calling at a specific time that might make it easier for him. So if you know that he gets up at 8 and there is an aide there at 8 to help him you know that the phone will be answered.
Problem is, when dementia makes the scene they all become too complicated for our seniors.
Meanwhile such places as telecalm on Facebook or at TeleCalmProtects.com which has all kinds of special phones. Also look up "special phone devices for seniors". You will be flooded.
I don't think a lot of them have texting, which seems confusing for some seniors, but they may. Setup is always a problem as few places have dedicated techie consierges, tho some do.
I would run the Alexa thing by him. If he has a hearing problem, may not work for him. Reason we don't have one. DH can't hear it.
If your dad wants the volume turned up on his phone, wouldn’t he do it or ask someone else to do this?
Unless you have an emergency, don’t worry about not being able to send a text message to him.
You could go to the store (dollar store has inexpensive cards) and purchase several cards for you to write quick notes to send to your dad. He may enjoy receiving mail from you.
He may not be a chatty person, regardless of whether he owns a cell or not.
Be at peace knowing that your dad is well cared for in a great assisted living facility.
Don’t look for trouble. Look at the things that are going well instead of focusing on something that doesn’t matter all that much.
FIL has a “new” cell phone because he thinks he needs it and he thought the other one was broken . He never uses it .
My MIL cannot remember how to type, and now she's struggling to read letters into words.
She has some kind of Ipad that works with her and YS. Dh isn't in the 'system' so he can't call her.
I call my kids on Alexa while I'm working in the kitchen, or sewing and I can have hands free conversations and multi-task.
Sadly, for really out-of-it elders, there isn't anything that they can relate to anymore. My DH will simply drive to his mother's to talk to her face to face. That is the only way he's sure she heard him.
So, I got her a landline and the Telecalm service. Going SOOOO much better now. It has different glitches because dementia always finds a way to screw things up, but it's much more doable than a cell phone.
I compose short messages from my Android Alexa app connected to the same Amazon account and post them onto my mother's Echo Show 15. There is nothing to do on her side. They automatically show up on the screen and stay there until I delete the messages. I have another Echo Show 15 at my place to verify how the messages look on the unit.
Limitations:
1. Font size: Amazon does not let you choose the font size. They start large and more letters you type into the message, smaller the fonts.
2. Number of letters per message is about 64.
3. Amazon limits the number of notes displayed at any time to three. Each message uses about 10% of the screen real estate. That is the only allowed size.
Amazon could have provided larger per message fields and font size control to make this an even more usual tool, but somehow, they are oblivious.