Would this be too much/over-stepping boundaries for a stranger?

[Mumtoone3]

I’m currently in hospital, have been in and out for 2-3 weeks now. There’s an older lady in the bed next to me, she’s already been in for over 2 months and has no plan to be discharged anytime soon due to lack of carer’s for her when she gets home.

She has all her wits about her, she’s in for broken bones and things like that. I’ve only seen her have 1 person visit so far and her husband is miles away in a care home.

She just sits there day after day and she has to rely on using the hospital telephone at the nurses station to speak to her husband or family so because of how busy they are, it’s not very often - today she spoke to them for the first time in weeks.

She said she does know how to use a mobile phone but doesn’t have one because of signal where she lives at home. I’m due to hopefully be discharged soon and I was debating on whether to buy her a cheap mobile phone (£10-20) and put some money on it so she can contact her husband and family whenever she wants to.

Would this be totally over the top and would I look like a complete weirdo for doing this?

It's such a lovely thing to do and it made me cry 😊 so kind @Mumtoone3

You have just restored my faith in human kindness! What a thoughtful thing to do. We need more people in the world like you.

You lovely human, do it!

Could you say you’d like to keep in touch and see how she’s getting on and this little gift will help. Thank you for keeping me company in hospital.

Absolutely normal thing to do for an elderly lady. I would definately do this. Get it now and teach her how to use it.

Take the number then you can call her.

You sound very kind - tell the nurses you've done it - she might not have her relatives numbers, but the staff will have at least one. They can also help her ring if needed. Hopefully the relatives will want calls. I'd write her number on a sticker or something for her purse.

How lovely. What a kind thing to do.

It's random acts of kindness like this that gives people faith in humanity. It's a lovely idea

You sound lovely 😊 as a previous poster said, you have restored my faith in humanity xx

It's a lovely thing to do.

yes definitely. Very kind

What a lovely idea, if you're comfortable with doing that. I am a frequent hospital patient and you do build "bonds" with other patients, I couldn't not when I was in for over 5 months! Even now I'm frequently in for a few weeks at a time. I'm young, mid twenties, but some of the little older ladies melted my heart. I started to crochet the time away in hospital, and I ordered on Amazon an extra pack of hooks and a multipack of some wool to be delivered for one of the ladies. She had briefly said how shocked she was someone so young was teaching herself to crochet, and that she'd love to learn but only knew how to knit and used to love knitting and was amazed when I showed her all the things you can learn via YouTube. So I showed her how to load up the YouTube video I was learning from on her smartphone (also amazed her as she didn't even know it existed or that her phone could play videos!) and we learnt together. You'd have thought I'd given her something precious and so expensive. She cried her eyes out one night about how nobody had ever done something just "because". She also had very few visitors. By the time I left she was teaching herself all sorts via YouTube and ordering left, right and centre on Amazon after I showed her how that works too, much to the nurses amusement. Kindness is often so appreciated. I hope you're feeling better OP.

Thank you for all of your responses hoping to be out tomorrow so I’m going to head down to Tesco’s, get her a phone and top it up, get her some goodies (I’ve slyly found out what her favourite chocolates and magazines are so I’ll keep her topped up with those) and then I’ll come back on the ward to show her how to use it and put some written instructions, her number on there and mine incase she ever needs anything once I’m back at home because I only live up the road!

Thank you for all of your help and suggestions

That sounds lovely.

If you think she might be unsure about accepting it (I know my grandparents would be telling you they didn’t deserve presents, etc) then you could say it’s a spare one you had at home.

What a star you are, how kind and generous. I hope you are truly better

it’s a spare one you had at home.

Good idea. I'd make it an old one you had at home so that her using it saved you the bother of recycling it. 😀

Will you be allowed back on the ward after discharge? I wouldn’t have thought so