Dementia television remote control

Sterlingtimes

I have had previous help from this forum. My 95-year-old mother has been diagnosed as not having dementia. However, she exhibits many of the hallmarks of dementia and has macular degeneration. I have now seen to the clock, the microwave oven, the falls detector and the DECT phone.

Now I have to look at the television. She wants the TV albeit that she has difficulty in processing the information.

I will remove the existing Samsung TV with set-top box and replace with a Freeview Panasonic that I have in my garage. 

Has anyone had any experience with dementia remotes to replace the complex standard remotes?

CarolWHerts

We got the Doro one from Amazon for my parents and it's definitely much more user friendly than the original. On/off, Channel up/down and volume up/down. For simplicity they now just have a TV with built in freeview channels but no Sky box or DVD attached. You'll need to set it up for them and decide where to hide the original. It's not completely foolproof (especially if you also have a Doro phone in the room.....) but it does the job most of the time and helps maintain independence. 

Farway

CarolWHerts said:

We got the Doro one from Amazon for my parents and it's definitely much more user friendly than the original. On/off, Channel up/down and volume up/down. For simplicity they now just have a TV with built in freeview channels but no Sky box or DVD attached. You'll need to set it up for them and decide where to hide the original. It's not completely foolproof (especially if you also have a Doro phone in the room.....) but it does the job most of the time and helps maintain independence. 

And it's Prime Day in a few days, so could be something else to bear in mind

Sterlingtimes

CarolWHerts said:

We got the Doro one from Amazon for my parents and it's definitely much more user friendly than the original. On/off, Channel up/down and volume up/down. For simplicity they now just have a TV with built in freeview channels but no Sky box or DVD attached. You'll need to set it up for them and decide where to hide the original. It's not completely foolproof (especially if you also have a Doro phone in the room.....) but it does the job most of the time and helps maintain independence. 

Thank you, Carol, for a quick and helpful response. I had not previously seen the Doro. My mother does have Doro 'phones. What is the problem with having the Doro 'phone and remote in the same area?

I am going to get rid of the setup box this afternoon and test out the replacement television.

My mother believes falsely that there is a button in her walk-in cupboard that she has to press to get the set working. She has an age-old habit of watching BBC 2 only, so channel change may not be paramount.

Sterlingtimes

Farway said:

And it's Prime Day in a few days, so could be something else to bear in mind

Thank you. I will watch out for that.

CarolWHerts

Sterlingtimes said:

CarolWHerts said:

We got the Doro one from Amazon for my parents and it's definitely much more user friendly than the original. On/off, Channel up/down and volume up/down. For simplicity they now just have a TV with built in freeview channels but no Sky box or DVD attached. You'll need to set it up for them and decide where to hide the original. It's not completely foolproof (especially if you also have a Doro phone in the room.....) but it does the job most of the time and helps maintain independence. 

Thank you, Carol, for a quick and helpful response. I had not previously seen the Doro. My mother does have Doro 'phones. What is the problem with having the Doro 'phone and remote in the same area?

I am going to get rid of the setup box this afternoon and test out the replacement television.

My mother believes falsely that there is a button in her walk-in cupboard that she has to press to get the set working. She has an age-old habit of watching BBC 2 only, so channel change may not be paramount.

The problem with having both Doro items around is that they have been known to try to change TV channels using the phone, and make calls using the remote....

Sterlingtimes

CarolWHerts said: The problem with having both Doro items around is that they have been known to try to change TV channels using the phone, and make calls using the remote....

Thank you. I can envisage that happening. Thank you.

Savvy_Sue

It may or may not help, but would a strip of bright masking tape of different colours on each one, labelled, help at all?

Sterlingtimes

Savvy_Sue said:

It may or may not help, but would a strip of bright masking tape of different colours on each one, labelled, help at all?

Thank you, Savvy_Sue. I have adopted similar techniques on other devices. For now,  I have removed the television that needs a set-top box, and the simplification of having just one controller has done the trick. Having said that, my mother is unable to comprehend audiovisual information.