Phone/internet in an emergency

[BobbyBleu]

My Grandad is 94 and now living on his own since my Nana died last year.
He's doing pretty well but he does have a bad knee and is getting more and more unsteady on his feet.
He has a mobile phone but can't see very well and even though we've bought one that's suppose to be easy to use, he struggles with it and the buttons on the side are small and he keeps accidentally turning it off.
He doesn't have a landline phone currently.
He wants to keep living independently. Me or my mum go down at least every other day but we are worried about him in the time we aren't there or if he gets up in the night to go to the toilet and falls on the stairs etc..
it would also be good if we could call him for chats on the days we can't get over to see him physically.

I'm after something that we could use as an alert if he fell or was poorly and a bonus would be that we could call him for a chat.
I wondered about portal but it would need to be very simple to use as he gets confused with technology.
I also wondered about Alexa/echo show as I think you can "drop in" on people?

We realise we would need to get internet installed.

Any ideas/experience/reviews would be great!
Thank you in advance!

The “infotainment” system in my car allows me to make phone calls by simply saying “phone Mr Dint” or similar, so presumably you can do that with Siri/Alexa/Google provided the numbers are pre-loaded.

Alternately Doro do phones aimed at the elderly market, some of which have an emergency button which calls a circuit of preselected family members until one answers.

Finally, there’s a range of sensors available, eg to alert you if he hasn’t been in the kitchen all morning, or ones that can be worn and detect the rapid downward motion of a fall.

Our LA has a tech adviser for carers.

My father had Doro phones towards the end of his life. Simple with big buttons and the emergency button rang me. He did set it off accidentally a couple of times but it worked well.

When even that became inadequate (mainly because he used to forget where he'd left it) he had an emergency call button around his neck. I can't remember the name of the system but was via Age Concern or Age Uk.

Worked well in an emergency but no good for you to check on him.

Definitely get in contact with your LA as they can help provide tech including pendants.

My first step would be to reconnect the landline

then get one of these services

www.careline.co.uk/?gclid=CjwKCAjw77WVBhBuEiwAJ-YoJPEoiprEymP9n91aKY7CSNp1hOogzwXf_PJv42WzRYeNhX8H6Dp_MBoCJ_QQAvD_BwE

The tech that the local authority will provide is highly likely to require a fixed telephone line.

It seems like getting a telephone line sorted is an obvious starting point so I'm assuming there is a good reason he doesn't have one currently?

Not necessarily, Fil has a council suppled fall pendant and alarm system that's run by pay as you go sim card in a sorta wee rooter looking thing.

My mum was able to use a Doro phone for quite a long time after we'd admitted defeat with the Nokia she used to have.

I have an Echo Show set up for my mum who is 89, has Alzheimer's and lives alone. I had to put a note on the plug telling her not to switch it off, otherwise she would forget to turn it on again, rendering it pointless!! Other than that, it's been great. We have it set up for drop in and it's pointed towards the chair she always sits in, but I can see most of the room and right into her kitchen. It was good when she had a sudden deterioration in her condition because I could keep a check on her. Sometimes the room was in darkness in the middle of the afternoon and I knew the carer hadn't gotten her out of bed. That's all sorted now though thankfully.

You could also talk to Age Concern for advice. Charities can be really helpful for this sort of stuff