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Elderly friendly video chatting


Blotto

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My mom is confined to an assisted living facility which is under lockdown for obvious reasons. As such, my sister who lives nearby can no longer visit. The timing of this pandemic is not  great as mom is also progressing down the path of dementia and was probably heading to memory care in 3-6 months. We can still call obviously, but my sister and I want to get figure out a video chat option so she doesn't feel as isolated and can see our faces. Problem is that she is getting up there in age and never was a technology/online person. Coupled with the confusion of dementia, I struggle to see how we can get a system that she will be able to use. Basically, she spends all day with her TV on CNN becuase thats the channel she knows. Her friends can no longer come visit and we're worried her cognitive decline will accelerate from isolation and depression. 

She no longer has a cell phone and while there is an old Ipad somewhere at her place, I doubt she has touched it in years. I'm working from the assumption we will use new hardware, but the key to success will be simplicity. The idea of her figuring out how to even use something like Facetime/Skype etc.... with passwords and contact lists  seems like an impossibility. I found a few platforms that seem geared towards this market and was wondering if anybody here has experience with them. Presumably we can work with the staff at her facility to get it plugged in etc..., but it will have to be simple. Would also be interested in other suggestions from people in a similar situation that have already been down this path.

Grandpad - https://www.grandpad.net/

ViewClix - https://www.viewclix.com/

Echo Show(amazon) - https://www.amazon.com/echo/s?k=echo+show

Even if we have to first call her on the phone and tell her to use the video chat device, I'm game as long its literally a couple of button pushes and no sign-on type shit. Sucks that in this age of unprecedented connectivity, I still am struggling to figure out what can work.  

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3 minutes ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

If you can find that ipad or get her a new one, Facetime is really easy to use. My kids use it a lot to talk to my parents.

I'm just oblivious to the entire apple ecosystem, as I haven't owned an apple device since the 90's. I'm sure I can pick up a cheap used IPad that would do the trick, but that assumes we can get mom up and running on her end. Will have to google some videos and see if I can get a sense for how facetime works. It sounds simple, but my mom cant really figure how to get her TV back on live TV if she somehow hits a button on her remote control like "input" . Ideally it would be as simple as the tablet "rings" and the conversation can start with the click of one button. Thanks for the input.

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9 minutes ago, 52-80 said:

Bra

 

https://store.google.com/us/product/google_nest_hub_max?hl=en-US

 

facebook makes one as well

 

 

My concern here would be set-up/training. There are a million options for tech savvy or  even tech tolerant people. My moms technical aptitude is infantile at this point, which is the issue because its not like my sister can visit and get everything set-up. But its worth checking out, thanks. 

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2 minutes ago, Blotto said:

My concern here would be set-up/training. There are a million options for tech savvy or  even tech tolerant people. My moms technical aptitude is infantile at this point, which is the issue because its not like my sister can visit and get everything set-up. But its worth checking out, thanks. 

i think once you set it up, you should be able to use the voice assistant to initiate the call.  not speaking from experience though.  but suggesting that the voice assistant would likely be a big help. 

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