Elder-accessible day-to-day technology

[Orrex]

4. Thank you for the suggestion and the kind words

I need to be honest and say I sometimes lose patience with her--not to her face, but when discussing her with my wife.

Yesterday, for instance, she called us 11 times in 15 minutes for help turning her tv off, then on, then fixing the picture, now the remote won't work, now it's too loud, now she can't hear it, now she can't find Judge Judy, now she can't find the remote.

And that's the routine most days of the week. Over the past ~12 years it has grown tiresome.

But I also know it's not her fault, at least not entirely. She doesn't have the best memory, so even if I show her how to use her remote, she'll forget by tomorrow. My frustration is due in large part to her family--some of whom live just minutes away--for offloading her to my wife and me. And because we're not complete assholes, we try to step up.

She's stubborn and doesn't want to give up the home she's known for 50+ years, nor does she want to lose her independence, but her independence depends entirely on neighbors willing to leap to her aid dozens of times daily.

As for my comment about loneliness, you're probably right that her usual circle of friends can't fix her remote either.

And I should also say that we never complain about helping with emergencies, or when she physically can't do things for herself. it just that a fuzzy tv picture doesn't quite qualify as an emergency!


Thank you again. I've asked her niece to check on the voice-activated remote, and she agrees that it might be a great solution.