With the Swine Flu pandemic spreading across the world like wildfire, elderly people are facing a life threatening disease. Swine flu, unlike common influenza, is deadly and has already claimed over 3000 lives, most of whom are children or the elderly.

This calls for preventive measures that not only include wearing surgical masks and washing hands regularly (the clinical aspect) but also to help elderly persons by enabling them to solicit emergency help in dire situations. This is where phones for the elderly come into the picture.

Many think that phones for the elderly are unnecessary this late in life. Furthermore, children tend to avoid buying their parents or grandparents a phone due to the assumption they will not be able to work such a device. However, the importance of a phone in an elderly person’s life cannot be overlooked due to safety reasons.

Phones for the elderly are not only an assurance for them that they can get help easily during an emergency situation, but also continuously improve the independent living style of such elderly people. For those who have elderly parents, phones for the elderly are a very good option to stay out of serious trouble.

There have been several instances where elderly persons, having contacted the concerned relatives, friends or emergency paramedical personnel in time, have lived to see happy and healthy days in their life. So, if you have been contemplating getting a phone exclusively for a parent or grandparent, do it now. It may pay off rich dividends than you can ever imagine!

Home Phones and Big Button Phones for the Elderly

There is a large selction of big button phones suitable for people who can’t see as well as they used to or have impaired vision from ailments such as cataracts and macular degeneration:

Big Button phones in the United States
Big button phones in the United Kingdom

Simple Cell Phones and Mobiles for the Elderly

Simple Cell Phones – United States
Simple Mobile Phones – United Kingdom

A recent survey suggests two thirds of children choose elderly and long term care over allowing a parent or relative to live independely at home, even though 76% of older people would rather stay in their own home.

Saga, which provides insurance, financial services and holidays to over 50s, asked 11,809 people how they felt about deciding the future of old or vulnerable relatives.

A combination of work commitments and not having the space to look after a parent or relative were the main reasons children opted for elderly care. Only one in 10 people survey had taken on the role of looking after a parent but they generally found the responsibility too great.

Andrew Goodsell, CEO of Saga, says: “Older people are fiercely independent and the vast majority (76%) hope to spend their final years living at home.”

In some cases appropriate elderly care is needed, however if older people would prefer to stay put surely their wishes should respected. By taking the necessary steps to ensure a parent or relative can live independently will help reduce the anxiety felt by both parties on making the decision for appropriate elderly care.

If you decide to keep a parent at home rather than moving them in to elderly care it’s important to make sure they can contact you in the case of an emergency. Start by getting them a simple cell phone or better still a medical emergency phone.

For further assistance Life Solutions offers some helpful advice on independent living. If your eye sight isn’t what it used to be check out Magnifier mouse for people with low vision and Scott Front highlights from personal experience how a simple cane can be so useful. Elder Care ABC also has some useful information on How to deal with aging parents.

The Doro Handle Easy 330 is a no fuss, easy to use cell phone. The first thing you will notice with the Doro Handle Easy is its simplicity – BIG rubber buttons and oversized, easy to read colour display, making it the ideal phone for making calls and sending text messages.

For the hard of hearing the Handle Easy 330 has a very loud speaker, headset outlet, speaker phone and vibrating aleart to make sure you never miss a call!

There is no need to memorize phone numbers, it has a memory to store up to 100 phone numbers. The main features include:

• Pre-dialling
• Two-way speakerphone
• Keylock
• Call timer

For safety and piece of mind the Doro Handle Easy 330 has an LED flashlight and one touch dial up safety alarm, which are not found in most cell phones.

Purchase Now – through Amazon US – Doro 330 HandleEasy
Purchase Now – through Amazon UK – Doro 330 HandleEasy