Loud bell or buzzer? 🔔

[tobee]

Mum and dad have a live in carer. Mum is sleeping downstairs and is not able to mobilise on her own. Dad is upstairs on the same floor as the carer.

A couple of times recently mum has needed the commode in the night but cannot get out of bed. She has a hand bell to ring for help but says the carer does not hear it. Yesterday morning the carer found mum had tried to get out of bed by herself but was stuck half way out.

Can anyone recommend a buzzer? One that could maybe be cordless so one end is by mum and one by the carer? Her current bell is a hand bell from Amazon. Any suggestions as to whether a louder bell can be found? They have broadband if that makes any difference but she would find anything much more technical than a tv remote a challenge. She might also find an Alexa too tricky. She is no longer to 100% reliably able to use her phone

What about a 2 way walkie talkie?

Are you sure she couldn’t ask Alexa to play a loud alarm in the carer’s room?

I’d get a louder hand bell. Or shriller maybe. All bells are not created equally.

Could she manage a whistle? I’ve got a mountain climbing type whistle that is super loud.

Apparently brass bells are the loudest, which is interesting because I bought a brass bell for my classroom to replace a silver coloured bell I had had and it was too loud and I couldn’t use it.

Thanks for the answers!

Alexa might be too risky as she wouldn’t want to say she didn’t like it.

Her current bell is brass.

A whistle might be a brilliant idea. I was going to say that she could wear it around her neck but not in bed, asleep 😳

A plug in doorbell. The plug bit in the carers room & the button bit with mum. The range should be ok unless super thick walls.

This. Worked for my parents. The bell is easily carried, and you can have multiple ringers around the house if needed.

And if your dad needs one as well you can get 2 and set them to play different sounds.

Just saw the last posts, but another one here saying a doorbell set up

Yes, a plug in doorbell is a great idea.

What about a baby monitor?

Doorbell set up.

My DPs had/have 6 ringers plugged in around the house which are all linked together, on loudest setting.
Then one doorbell at the front door, but also a second bell push (that produces a different ring) on a cord which was around DM's neck. Worked really well. There was a choice of around 50 rings to pick from.

I already suggested this, but what about a door bell that had a vibration option- often sold for deaf/hard of hearing? I'm surprised that bells/alarms aren't waking the husband, so I'd want something that JUST woke the carer.

Yes, a doorbell set up works perfectly for this.
We bought this one for when an elderly relative visits, as they sometimes had issues in the night.

https://amzn.eu/d/0gp1BLRR

The buzzer is battery powered so can be right by the bed, and the chime plugs into the socket in our bedroom.

The plug in ones we use have plug sockets on them too so you don't 'lose' a socket. (term is 'plug through' ) Important for my DPs with their 60+ year old house and approx 1 socket per room!

Great! Thanks for these replies. Some quite simple solutions I can’t believe I didn’t think of

Fart foghorn? https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324491643142?chn=ps&_ul=GB&mkevt=1&mkcid=28&google_free_listing_action=view_item

My dh suggested an air horn but I thought it might terrify the neighbours in the middle of the night. They are semi detached.

I bet a huge farting noise would wake her she would know she had to change the sheets 😉

A baby monitor is what your carer needs :-) the carer will be able to hear your mum and if she presses a button, the carer can talk back.

'VTech AM706-1W Baby Monitor with Long Range, up to 1,000ft, Clear Sound, 2-Way Audio Talk, Vibrating Sound Alert' £28 on amazon

I have a wireless door bell for mum same make as pp linked. You can adjust the volume (and it has endless different tune choices. We just go for the plain ding-dong!) Mum has the push button super-glued to the side of her bed and I have the receiver next to my pillow 😁. Works for us!

We used a daytech caregiver alarm from Amazon for mum , worked well although she preferred the brass hand bell to summon assistance . She was blind so we needed something that was easy for her to find and use and with this we could be in the garden and be sure that would hear her
For Dad we used an alarm that was set off when he broke the beam of light from a separate unit on the floor., again from Amazon and not really ££
Different issues meant we needed different solutions for each of them