Echo Device info for Loved Ones in Nursing Homes / Assisted Living

[Cornell]

Hey all --
My mom lives in assisted living which has turned into another nightmare of 2020 as you can imagine.

I bought her an Alexa Show which I am setting up for us (her kids and grandkids) to use the drop in feature for Video calls. It's a superior alternative to FaceTime or Skype b/c my mom doesn't have to "do" anything. We just appear on her Alexa device for a chat. No swiping, button pushing, etc.

(her facility coordinates FaceTime calls but it's not acceptable -- the staff hovers during the calls & my mom wants privacy. And they talk to her a patronizing way while helping her which makes her crazy).

Anyways, sharing this EXCELLENT article on to set all of this up if you are interested in doing this for someone you care about who is an similar situation. It's not easy to set up if you don't have access to your loved one's cell phone etc (which we don't since we can't actually visit my mom).

How to Set Up Alexa Calling for a Loved One

Are you looking for a way to setup video chats with your loved one who lives independently or in a facility? This article tells you how to do that, using the Echo Show, without requiring your loved one to do any of the "setting up".

www.techenhancedlife.com

 

[Cornell]

Yesterday I was able to retrieve my mom's iPhone from her assisted living facility for my Amazon Show project (couldn't see her, however, which continues to be upsetting).

Nonetheless, I think she's fallen behind on her emails

 

[geist1223]

Only a little bit.

 

[PigsDad]

That's about a week's worth of timeshare spam emails, right?

Kurt

 

[1Kflyerguy]

My mom is in a skilled nursing facility, I haven't seen her phone since March. I am dreading all the election related texts i will need to delete...

 

[Cornell]

My mom is in a skilled nursing facility, I haven't seen her phone since March. I am dreading all the election related texts i will need to delete...

There were SO many on my mom's phone. I'm actually really upset looking at her phone as I'm doing some updates, housecleaning on it. I can see a decline in her "participation in life" by investigating. It's very troubling

 

[1Kflyerguy]

There were SO many on my mom's phone. I'm actually really upset looking at her phone as I'm doing some updates, housecleaning on it. I can see a decline in her "participation in life" by investigating. It's very troubling

Its very troubling to witness the decline of your parents. Unfortunately my mom has really gone downhill over the past year or two.. She can no longer delete text messages, or restart her phone. I cringe at the though of something happening to her old iPhone4. She would never learn a new phone.

 

[x3 skier]

Email clutter seems to be a female phenomenon. Of the three female friends I see regularly, none has less than 100 unread emails and one has over 500. Drove me batty. The curse of my engineering mind until I surrendered.

Text messages seem to get good response (after I set up a Spam blocker for them)

Cheers

 

[Monykalyn]

@Cornell From CMS (regulates nursing homes)
"While we must remain steadfast in our fight to shield nursing home residents from this virus, it is becoming clear that prolonged isolation and separation from family is also taking a deadly toll on our aging loved ones,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “With the Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to bolster testing resources and deploy infection control support, we believe nursing homes should be able to resume visitations reuniting residents with their families within the recommendations outlined in our guidance.”

CMS Announces New Guidance for Safe Visitation in Nursing Homes During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency | CMS

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued revised guidance providing detailed recommendations on ways nursing homes can safely facilitate visitation during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. After several months of visitor restrictions designed to slow the...

www.cms.gov

There is really no reason you shouldn't be able to see your mom-if nursing homes can allow safe visitation there is no reason to not allow AL's to do same.
Time to really make a fuss...
The Alexa Show is a brilliant idea!

 

[Sandi Bo]

@Cornell thank you so much for posting this. So timely, my family has been discussing this for my Mom. She still lives at home, with some care coming in. We zoom twice a week now, usually my sister is with her (she doesn't like it when her help is hovering, as you noted your mom doesn't either). If my sister isn't with her, I call and walk her through. Every time the conversation goes 'do you have your cell phone', she doesn't know where it is, has to find it. Usually I know where it is because my sister will have told me she left it on the table. OK.. she finds it. Next question, 'is it on'? And she says 'No, does it need to be'? And so it goes. I can talk her through, but challenging. We will definitely look into the Echo Show now. Side note: Nothing perks her up more than when the grandkids join.

 

[Sandi Bo]

@Cornell From CMS (regulates nursing homes)
"While we must remain steadfast in our fight to shield nursing home residents from this virus, it is becoming clear that prolonged isolation and separation from family is also taking a deadly toll on our aging loved ones,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “With the Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to bolster testing resources and deploy infection control support, we believe nursing homes should be able to resume visitations reuniting residents with their families within the recommendations outlined in our guidance.”

CMS Announces New Guidance for Safe Visitation in Nursing Homes During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency | CMS

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued revised guidance providing detailed recommendations on ways nursing homes can safely facilitate visitation during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. After several months of visitor restrictions designed to slow the...

www.cms.gov

There is really no reason you shouldn't be able to see your mom-if nursing homes can allow safe visitation there is no reason to not allow AL's to do same.
Time to really make a fuss...
The Alexa Show is a brilliant idea!

Maybe we need to demand the same level of testing for our nursing homes that pro teams or politicians get? Unlimited testing with 15 min or less results?

 

[Cornell]

@Cornell thank you so much for posting this. So timely, my family has been discussing this for my Mom. She still lives at home, with some care coming in. We zoom twice a week now, usually my sister is with her (she doesn't like it when her help is hovering, as you noted your mom doesn't either). If my sister isn't with her, I call and walk her through. Every time the conversation goes 'do you have your cell phone', she doesn't know where it is, has to find it. Usually I know where it is because my sister will have told me she left it on the table. OK.. she finds it. Next question, 'is it on'? And she says 'No, does it need to be'? And so it goes. I can talk her through, but challenging. We will definitely look into the Echo Show now. Side note: Nothing perks her up more than when the grandkids join.

Let's see how this works. I will report back. I have yet to drop off the Show @ my mom's home. I have it all configured and ready to go, however. The beauty of the Show is that it is stationary & plugged in (unlike a cell phone which often can't be found or isn't charged).

Just hearing your comments about your own mom helps. I get so tired of the "why don't you Face Time" suggestion? It's just not a good one.

One thing I learned , though, is this -- in order to use the "drop in" feature , anyone who wants to utilize this must have their own Echo Show. Prices are down to $50 so not too bad.

 

[Cornell]

@Cornell From CMS (regulates nursing homes)
"While we must remain steadfast in our fight to shield nursing home residents from this virus, it is becoming clear that prolonged isolation and separation from family is also taking a deadly toll on our aging loved ones,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “With the Trump administration’s unprecedented efforts to bolster testing resources and deploy infection control support, we believe nursing homes should be able to resume visitations reuniting residents with their families within the recommendations outlined in our guidance.”

CMS Announces New Guidance for Safe Visitation in Nursing Homes During COVID-19 Public Health Emergency | CMS

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued revised guidance providing detailed recommendations on ways nursing homes can safely facilitate visitation during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. After several months of visitor restrictions designed to slow the...

www.cms.gov

There is really no reason you shouldn't be able to see your mom-if nursing homes can allow safe visitation there is no reason to not allow AL's to do same.
Time to really make a fuss...
The Alexa Show is a brilliant idea!

I'm beyond despondent. We have made a fuss. Her home just gives us the runaround. And we've contacted some lawyers, too, but none seem interested.

Yes, I know many on TUG would think it's horrible that we want to have visits w/my mom, but the "rules" are nonsensical and I continue to mutter under my breath "SO STUPID" when I hear some of them.

I could go on & on with what my mom is enduring, but as an example: My mom has not had her hair cut since pre-Covid. Apparently it's "too dangerous" to have residents get haircuts. At a certain point, people deserve their dignity & their lives back.

And yes, my mother will be ALONE for Thanksgiving. My daughter's teenage friends can see my mom b/c they work there (they deliver meals -- and yes, delivering meals to rooms bc communal dining of any sort is not allowed). But my daughter cannot b/c she's under 18. Tell me how any of this makes sense.

 

[rboesl]

Its very troubling to witness the decline of your parents. Unfortunately my mom has really gone downhill over the past year or two.. She can no longer delete text messages, or restart her phone. I cringe at the though of something happening to her old iPhone4. She would never learn a new phone.

This is a very serious concern. Not that something would happen to the phone, per se, but that service changes being put in place will make it non-functional. We were notified by our cellular provider that we needed to upgrade our phones. The reason: system upgrades for 5G were resulting in dropping support for any service less than 4G. Thankfully they made it affordable (AT&T is offering free upgrades with trade-in) because I had to upgrade 3 phones which at today's prices could have cost over $1,000.

 

[Monykalyn]

Tell me how any of this makes sense.

It doesn't. Agree completely on a person's dignity-this is a HUGE with CMS and the home can get some major citations for not respecting a resident's dignity. I am so sorry you are going through this.

We HAVE to get back to some resemblance of normal soon. I shudder to think of the long term mental health consequences. It is bunk to blow it off and say "well so and so survived *insert whatever strawman argument disaster/war here " I guarantee you every major thing like this left many people broken somehow, some hide it better is all-and NEVER before has the "solution" been to lock oneself away for prolonged periods from your source of support and human connection/touch.

 

[Patri]

I'm beyond despondent. We have made a fuss. Her home just gives us the runaround. And we've contacted some lawyers, too, but none seem interested.
Yes, I know many on TUG would think it's horrible that we want to have visits w/my mom, but the "rules" are nonsensical and I continue to mutter under my breath "SO STUPID" when I hear some of them.
I could go on & on with what my mom is enduring, but as an example: My mom has not had her hair cut since pre-Covid. Apparently it's "too dangerous" to have residents get haircuts. At a certain point, people deserve their dignity & their lives back.
And yes, my mother will be ALONE for Thanksgiving. My daughter's teenage friends can see my mom b/c they work there (they deliver meals -- and yes, delivering meals to rooms bc communal dining of any sort is not allowed). But my daughter cannot b/c she's under 18. Tell me how any of this makes sense.

Laura, I'm with you. My DH's nursing home opened up for two days last week (limited hours) for short family visits. I was working but my DD managed to get in Thursday. He was SO happy. I intended to visit him Sat. but checked their website. Sure enough, one staff member tested positive Friday, so they are shut down again. We don't know plans yet for Thanksgiving. The NH hadn't decided rules last time I asked. I want him out for the day. If he has to go on quarantine afterwards, so what? No different than his life now.

 

[Brett]

My Mother's nursing home shut down this past week because of recent COVID cases with residents and staff. Mom spent a week at the hospital with a UTI / sepsis and we noted a decline both mentally and physically. We have arranged outpatient hospice care so nurses will visit with her at the nursing home 2 - 3 times a week. We felt the nursing home was not giving her good medical care.
Unfortunately this pandemic has taken a toll ..

 

[1Kflyerguy]

This is a very serious concern. Not that something would happen to the phone, per se, but that service changes being put in place will make it non-functional. We were notified by our cellular provider that we needed to upgrade our phones. The reason: system upgrades for 5G were resulting in dropping support for any service less than 4G. Thankfully they made it affordable (AT&T is offering free upgrades with trade-in) because I had to upgrade 3 phones which at today's prices could have cost over $1,000.

I had not even thought about that prospect, but then i have never kept a cell phone for so long before. I guess i should confirm which service her phone runs, 3g or 4g, and then see if Verizon has any published places for changes.. Of course the other risk is that the phone just breaks, or she spills liquid all over it.

 

[Cornell]

Laura, I'm with you. My DH's nursing home opened up for two days last week (limited hours) for short family visits. I was working but my DD managed to get in Thursday. He was SO happy. I intended to visit him Sat. but checked their website. Sure enough, one staff member tested positive Friday, so they are shut down again. We don't know plans yet for Thanksgiving. The NH hadn't decided rules last time I asked. I want him out for the day. If he has to go on quarantine afterwards, so what? No different than his life now.

It's truly becoming a nightmare and I don't use that word loosely. I honestly wish I could hit the fast forward button and skip over the holidays this year . They are making me incredibly sad to think about.

 

[Cornell]

Reporting back on the Echo Show: I have nothing to report as my mother's assisted facility won't allow it.

 

[PigsDad]

Reporting back on the Echo Show: I have nothing to report as my mother's assisted facility won't allow it.

Did they give a reason? Technical issue? Other?

Kurt

 

[WinniWoman]

Reporting back on the Echo Show: I have nothing to report as my mother's assisted facility won't allow it.

Is there a reason I can’t send you a private message on TUG?

 

[Cornell]

Did they give a reason? Technical issue? Other?

Kurt

Her facility has wifi for all the residents. They have a policy that if a resident has a surveillance video camera then the resident must get their own dedicated internet connection as a video camera that streams uses too much wifi. They are arguing that because an Echo Show has a camera, we could use it as a surveillance camera. (we aren't - just want to do the periodic video call like FaceTime).

 

[Cornell]

Is there a reason I can’t send you a private message on TUG?

I just sent you one - so hopefully you can see it.

LMK!

 

[Cornell]

For those of you who have a loved on in assistance living or a nursing home that you cannot visit during Covid, I have an update on this.....finally our family was able to get this Echo Show in my mom's apartment.

The management of her facility kept giving us the runaround but we got an elder care lawyer to write a letter on our behalf and they agreed to let my mom use this.

Today it got set up and it has brought some joy to my mom. My mom has to do NOTHING -- she just hears a "beep" and then we show up on her screen to start a conversation. When we are done, she doesn't have to do anything either. She loves the independence and the fact that no staff member has to assist her with a FaceTime call.

It was so great to see my mom without a mask on and to see her in her own home (vs these yucky visits that we had over the summer in a vestibule area). My daughter previously has not been able to visit my mom (only people over 18) so for the first time since August 2019 when my daughter left for Switzerland, my mom got to actually see my daughter. Finally! some progress.

This is a great device for the elderly that have cognitive issues. Takes some work to set up but completely worth it. And the smallest Shows are on sale now for under $50.