Memory Friendly Phone

hiya

does anyone have a recommendation for a phone? I’ve looked at a brand called Raz. It looks good online but would love everyone’s input/experience.
thank you

--Rebecca--

Don't know about the Raz. Have not found one single, good phone for persons with memory issues. The best solution I found was Consumer Cellular's Iris Easy. The contacts are very difficult to navigate. My dad manually dials people using a laminated sheet of contact numbers for reference, which works fine. I added this phone case, which was very important:

Every phone he's had, he kept hitting the volume buttons on the side, muting the phone. This case recesses the volume buttons. I cut a sliver from a thin plastic cutting board, and taped it over the volume buttons, to guarantee they won't be hit. The sliver fits between the case and the phone nicely.

This phone only works with Consumer Cellular. Their customer support is excellent. For the next several months, I'm paying $10 a month for phone calls only. Then it will go up to $20 a month.

--Rebecca--

Also, my Dad is in early stage 6, in Memory Care, and I've found him having a cell phone to be very valuable. He leaves it plugged in at all times. I call him when his favorite movies are on TV. He does the same, and it helps him feel useful. He feels less isolated.

They are the shortest and sweetest conversations.

"Hi, The Wizard of Oz is on TCM!"

"OH wow, I'll turn it on now!"

"I'll let you get to it, bye."

"Thanks for telling me, bye"

Staff know we communicate daily, and that I'm a daily observer of his life. I review with him how to use his TV remote, so he will keep this skill as long as possible. We talk through his interpersonal problems. At some point, he won't be able to call out any more. Hopefully he will be able to answer the phone for a while past that benchmark.

H1235

We have a jethro phone for my mom. It is cheap at only $100 a year (calls only). I don’t think it is super easy to use, but she is able to answer and make calls on her own. It is like old phones before texting and internet access. Every now and then she pushes the wrong buttons and we have to go there and restart it to get it working again. She is probably late stage 4.

mabelgirl

my mom has the raz. It works with all the major networks. I like it because it doesn’t have lots of bells and whistles. You can limit the times they can make calls set reminders that give voice prompts optional 911 intercept service , etc ..

harshedbuzz

IME, if a person is struggling with their current phone after having been able to use it, introducing something different—even if simpler— is unlikely to be successful at a certain point.

Dad struggled with his smartphone by stage 4, so we swapped him to a flip phone similar to one he'd had prior. He was never reliably competent with it and couldn't even answer it by stage 5. He was OK with a corded landline phone but couldn't recall people's current numbers. He could answer it.

HB