Cell Phone

ad1120

My father is starting to experience issues with the phone and keeps calling 911, as he thinks he needs to turn his phone off after every use. I really don't want to get rid of it as we're just 2 months past taking away his car which has been a hard adjustment. Any advice?

SusanB-dil

Can you get him a phone that can only dial who you program in?

I'm not sure about the emergency feature, but I would check on that.

harshedbuzz

@ad1120

I don't think there's any workaround that would make his phone unable to summon emergency services, so the phone needs to go away.

You aren't taking it away; the progression of the disease is. There are consequences for abuse of 911; this could include fines and reimbursement for the cost of the response.

Since he doesn't understand that he doesn't need to "turn it off", he'd likely not notice you slipping it into airplane mode. You could then declare it broken and take it in to "be repaired".

HB

JesseLee

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/273564#Comment_273564

I like this suggestion. My dad also insisted on turning his phone off every night. I thought he was just not understanding the tech. Wonder if that's a sample size of 2 or a component of the disease. He progressed through that and can barely remember how to use his phone anymore.

harshedbuzz

https://alzconnected.org/discussion/comment/273589#Comment_273589

I can add another to the sample. My dear auntie in 2003.

When I helped clean out auntie's place after she went to a MCF after the sudden death of my uncle, I found her cell (flip) phone with a very detailed handwritten list of operating instructions which included collapsing the antenna and shutting off the phone.

I wonder if this behavior harkens to the early days of mobile phones when making/receiving calls were as much as $1/minute. I recall that my first bag phone was turned off between calls.

HB