My father is 69 and has advanced Parkinson's and I believe Lewy Body Dementia. He has a lot of trouble with his phone, and believes people are going in and changing the numbers. He will look at his recent call list and try to call someone, but hit the wrong button and it will call someone else. No matter how much I try to show him what is actually happening, he does not believe me and believes that my explanation makes no sense. He has a password on his phone, but we had to simplify it because he always forgets. He has aides who help him during the day, and he thinks they are getting into his phone. He will call me throughout the day and then insist he did not call me and someone is doing something. I have gotten him a easy to use phone, but he cannot figure it out and deletes numbers all the time.
Every time I try to give him a rational explanation, he yells at me and tells me I'm wrong. I have also tried to redirect him, but he gets insistent. I will show him the phone and that no numbers are changed, and he then says I delete the evidence or someone else did. Is there anything I can do?
There are no easy to use telephones for seniors. Even the one I bought for myself which is designed for seniors is a real bear to use. The instruction book is 150 pages long and the instructions are written from programmer to programmer, not programmer to senior.
What is nice about landline, there is no misplacing the phone, it is always sitting in the same place. If there are phone jacks, thus one in each room. One doesn't need to re-charge a landline. There are no dropped signals unless the caller is on a cell. And the voice clarity is sooooo much better. And there are no butt calls with a landline :)
The Assisted Living where my Dad lived, they had landline phones to their residents if they needed one. Only thing, Dad had to remember to dial 9 first to get an outside line.
There's no way you will convince your Dad, I think, that it isn't the phone--it's him. I honestly wish I could give you better advice, something that would help. I hope others have something I haven't thought of.
I agree landline. Find one that allows you to list names in it where you program #1 button is for you and so on. Then all he need to do is push the button next to your name to call you. Just found this where u use pictures.
https://www.sereneinnovations.com/high-definition-amplified-speakerphone-with-photo-memory.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwx7GYBhB7EiwA0d8oe2vxpqcmVLDJEnuczedJkWVk0NvQ0gP6LzDExCz-U-43FfSpQyRZsBoCZLwQAvD_BwE
Dementia is a lose-lose situation for all concerned. That's the bottom line and the truth of the matter. No easy answers exist, and everyone winds up frustrated with everything that transpires. I reached the point with my mother & her phone that I wanted to rip the **** thing out of the wall and toss it out the window, that's how bad things got!
Wishing you the best of luck.
I agree with freqflyer -- get a landline. He might even qualify for an ADA phone through the local phone company. My mother got one because she was stone deaf and almost blind, so they gave her a free phone with gigantic buttons and volume and tone controls. The only drawback to that phone was that although it was a push button phone, it operated like a dial phone. (Push a number, then hear it click that many times as it "dialed" that number.) It couldn't be used for any automated calls where you'd be asked to "press 1 for English" or anything like that. I hope they don't still hand out phones that are that archaic, but check with the local phone company or just buy a push-button phone for about $10.