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Original poster

Has anyone used Alexa drop in to check on elderly relatives.

27 replies

FinallyFluid · 12/01/2022 14:11

My mother is failing, she frequently either leaves the phone out of its cradle or doesn't put it back on the cradle correctly, this phone line is linked to her panic button she had a severe fall before Christmas (five facial fracture's), narrowly escaping facial reconstruction. On that occasion she rang my sister from her mobile, but if she couldn't have found her mobile the landline phone had been off the hook, her panic bracelet wouldn't have worked.

At this moment in time she will not countenance leaving her home and going into sheltered accommodation.

She has a mobile or as my nephew calls it a static, because she does not carry it with her, so despite all of us calling her mobile yesterday it was late evening before we could alert her.

You can only ask neighbours so often, would rather keep them for a real crisis.

So question is, can I in the UK drop in on her in Ireland once permissions have been enabled at her end ?? Failing that my brother lives in the next county (Meath)and I could buy an Alexa for him to use.

But he and my sister and their spouses do lots and I would like to feel I was helping from here. IYKWIM

And also has anyone used it successfully.

TIA

OP posts:
LizBennet · 12/01/2022 14:14

Yes, we use it all the time with 87 year old FIL, and he drops in on us too (obviously means no phone bills too). I'm not sure about it working in Ireland, but I don't see why not 🤔

Original poster
FinallyFluid · 12/01/2022 14:18

Thank you

OP posts:
themuttsnutts · 12/01/2022 14:20

Yes, I do, too, if she's not answering the phone. We are in the uk

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Dementia & alzheimer's
NChgforMatrixThread · 12/01/2022 14:21

I would be really interested to hear how this works, as I am in the same position. My DM lives in an old house on her own and I really worry about her. She won't even wear the panic bracelet.

CrimbleCrumble1 · 12/01/2022 14:22

I had to remove my DM’s Alexa, she has Alzheimer’s and it made her very delusional.

LizBennet · 12/01/2022 14:24

NChgforMatrixThread we have an Alexa in FILs bedroom and his living room so he can contact us if he has trouble in the night.
I think we set it up through the Alexa app on my phone, and then added him as a contact.

NChgforMatrixThread · 12/01/2022 14:25

@LizBennet thanks, I will look into this. It is something I had not considered before.

LizBennet · 12/01/2022 14:27

It really has been a godsend, sometimes he doesn't put the phone back in the cradle properly and we can drop in and tell him to.

Justcallmebebes · 12/01/2022 14:28

How does this work please? I am in exactly the same position with my dad and as we speak I'm trying to get hold of him. Not answered phone all day and is housebound. Drives me nuts and it's worrying too

Justcallmebebes · 12/01/2022 14:29

So you can speak to them through Alexa?

LizBennet · 12/01/2022 14:30

Yes, you speak to each other through the Alexa. You just say "Alexa, drop in on XXX and it connects to their Alexa.

Justcallmebebes · 12/01/2022 14:36

Brilliant. Thanks Liz I will get onto that

nansbigpants · 12/01/2022 14:40

My parents' have 2 echo dots that I have set up on my amazon account. This allows us to drop in on each-other and my parents find it easy to do. I set this up as one of them has breathing problems and the other trips quite easily but they refuse to carry a mobile (or even turn it on when they are not out of the house) and the landline is fixed to the wall. The down side is that they like to use it to make odd announcements that they think are funny.

Vaccinebeliever · 12/01/2022 15:01

I do it from uk to Ireland without any issues. It’s very handy. My advice is buy it yourself and set it up including set up and email for it etc. Turn off ads and the scrolling screensaver as my mum found that confusing. Switch on her accepting drop ins but turn off her ability to drop in on you. We have 2 for my mum one in kitchen with a camera and one without. You have to nominate a main in one and can only drop in on one at a time— so if you drop in it only alerts one device. If she doesn’t respond to kitchen one I then switch to bedroom one. Bedroom one has a camera but I disabled it for her privacy

Vaccinebeliever · 12/01/2022 15:01

Also it does need to be unplugged and rebooted about once a month or it’s gets a bit glitchy

EveryFlightBeginsWithAFall · 12/01/2022 15:04

I drop in on my oldest son occasionally. His dot is set up to my account

I sometimes drop in on my dog when I'm out too Grin

Katshouldnotswim · 12/01/2022 15:05

Yes we did this.

I reassured the carers that came in daily that it wasn’t me attempting to covertly spy on them and in fact it is obvious when it’s active as the display changes and you can see and hear the caller.

steelseries · 12/01/2022 15:06

Hi OP. We use Memo to home-monitor my MIL. It's fab.

memohub.co.uk

dementedma · 12/01/2022 15:07

Oooh I didnt know about this!

Vaccinebeliever · 12/01/2022 15:08

I have loads of sisters local to her but at least this way I can usually locate her for them and/or can check on her so I feel I am helping a bit. I can set alarms on it for her…put audiobooks I think she’d like on there and set reminders etc. saves her phone bill too. I also got her an Alexa tv for the kitchen too so I can drop in and (get her to stop talking for a second) to voice activate and find her tv shows for her is she is looking for something. She has to press the voice button and stay quiet long enough for the tv to hear me. But it works

UnicornPoopsRainbows · 12/01/2022 15:11

Please make sure you have her permission. I used Find Friends and tried Alexa for a relative with dementia and social services wanted to know if we had their permission. Very odd

TinyTear · 12/01/2022 15:18

At this moment in time she will not countenance leaving her home and going into sheltered accommodation.

Oh FFS, if she can't live alone, she can't live alone. what would happen if you or your siblings couldn't help? or the neighbours?

Vaccinebeliever · 12/01/2022 15:33

Yes it easier in my case my mum still has capacity and can make decisions for herself. She just sometimes misplaces her mobile and/or doesn’t replace the handset correctly mainly due to arthritis in her fingers. Same with the tv remote she can spend ages trying to press buttons that her fingers simply can’t use properly. We have bought every remote under the sun. An Alexa is a handy back up and it’s reassuring for her to know she can be reached and for us too. We have her permission to do it and she likes it.

NannyGythaOgg · 12/01/2022 16:38

@TinyTear

At this moment in time she will not countenance leaving her home and going into sheltered accommodation.

Oh FFS, if she can't live alone, she can't live alone. what would happen if you or your siblings couldn't help? or the neighbours?

If a person has mental capacity no one can (or should be able to) force them to go into any kind of sheltered accommodation.

I'm not yet of that age by a long way but no one will make me go anywhere. I'd rather die of neglect, or even after lying helpless on the floor for days at home than exist with no quality of life for years

Original poster
FinallyFluid · 12/01/2022 17:03

@TinyTear

At this moment in time she will not countenance leaving her home and going into sheltered accommodation.

Oh FFS, if she can't live alone, she can't live alone. what would happen if you or your siblings couldn't help? or the neighbours?

Come back to me, when you are old. Shock
OP posts: