My dad has moderate dementia, and cannot operate his TV remote by himself. He is living in a good home, but he doesn't have someone who can change the channel for him or turn it on and off. Is there any sort of TV system that would allow me to control his TV over the internet? Anyone else have this issues?
I see that I posted upthread in July 2014 about a basic remote that my cousin could use. Sadly, it didn't last long. She soon forgot about turning on a tv. It's not something that interest her anymore. I do hate that, because she used to enjoy her tv so much. Now, it doesn't capture her attention for more than 10 seconds.
I wonder if the downfall of more people not being as healthy all started with the invention of the remote control and the Lazyboy recliners :P
buttonblocker
Mom used to have control of the remote so I am not to surprised he doesn't know how to use it.
I bought the TEK remote for my Dad (the button blocker is WAY too small. Daddy is legally blind) and ended up super gluing a textured button to the CHANNEL UP button and told him to only use that one.
That helps some, but he has a habit of falling asleep with the remote in his hand which he drops and the batteries fall out meaning it needs to be reprogrammed).
The whole digital TV thing is a HUGE thorn in my side, especially when it comes to seniors. Dad's AL offers about 40 channels BUT the cable company makes them use a cable box. It's really hard to get a senior with dementia (or without it for that matter) to understand that you must activate the TV AND the cable box to get the channels to change.
I miss the days of a cable going directly from the TV to the wall and having one remote to control everything.
My semi solution is to tell Dad to NEVER turn off his TV. When his remote "breaks" (meaning the programming has gotten messed up again), he's forced to watch the same channel until I can come by to fix it. The AL staff hasn't learned to program the large TEK remote. Instead, they will pull out the small remote that controls the cable box. I can barely see the buttons on that one.
Sometimes I think technology forgets about seniors (My Dad can't see a Jitterbug cell phone to save his life...)