I the first few days after mum died, I asked dad whether he had a key. He showed me that he had a key in a pocket in his wallet. See other post on the Tile fob I put on this key. I labelled the tile ‘Front Door’ with my label maker just to make…

One of the main challenges with the keys is that all of the doors in the house were replaced at aroud the same time, so all of the keys look remarkably similar. There was a key box which lived on a shelf in the kitchen which contained all of the spare keys but it was…

It is still early days, but GPS tracking has been on my mind, as I do worry about dad going out on his own. I have spent a bit of time looking into this and considering the benefits and pittfalls to different devices: A mobile phone: I did buy a simple mobile for dad a…

Dad was already attending a social club and a lunch club and had a weekly 2 hour care call which was set up as respite for mum. The problem was that the lunch club was fortnighly and the social club was once a month. Dad has always been a very sociable person and if he…

Before mum died, she spent a few weeks in hospital. My brother travelled down to look after dad for a few weeks. This was really useful as it enabled us to have a very clear picture of the things dad was able to do and the things he needed help with. One day my dad…

One of my numerous worries was that dad would leave his key in the front door. If a key is left in the lock on the inside of the door, it is not possible to insert a key from the outside. This would mean that neither we nor the carers could enter the property if…

I realised that we needed a way of keeping him up to date with what was going on each day. My first thought was a white board, so I popped in to The Range. Unbelievably, they had exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to share a link here, but can’t find it on…

The problem with most mobile phones is that they aren’t actually that easy to learn how to use. A basic phone requires you to input a number then press call, or to navigate saved numbers. If a person is familiar with this, it may work, but it would be too complicated. You can get some…

It was quite clear that dad would need some daily support if he was going to be able to remain living at home. Although dad was able to get up and dressed, make himself a basic breakfast, sandwich and hot drink, he wouldn’t be able to manage his medication or to cook a meal for…

One of my worries about dad being on his own was that dad may start ‘wandering’. I had previously bought dad a basic mobile, but it was no longer working, as it worked on 2G or 3G which are no longer supported in the UK. In any case, dad had never carried a mobile and…