Now that my mother is in the nursing home, I'd like to be able to call her and let her know we're on our way or have my brother call her from VA. She is out and about throughout the nursing home, so I need a cell phone that we could put on her wheelchair.

Here's the kicker...she lost her phone privileges at her old nursing home because she had a UTI and her schizophrenia kicked into high gear all at the same time. She called 911 and complained to them about her roommate. Ugh...

So, is there a phone out there (cell phone) that only works with incoming calls? I thought about the Migo but worry she would try to call all of us all the time and run up the phone bill. (She's done that before while I was in college and left me with a phone bill that was $1,000+ in a matter of 2 weeks.) I don't want to sound mean, but I just don't trust her with outgoing calls. Maybe I could just not program any of the buttons on the Migo...not sure...

By Truestori on Monday, December 3, 2007 - 07:23 pm:

Heidi,

There are many carriers that offer unlimited calling for a set fee. In california it is called Metro PC and its 39.00 per month. I'm sure Colarado offers something similar. HTH's

By Tsa on Monday, December 3, 2007 - 07:31 pm:

Could you get a normal Cell Phone and just keep the keygaurd lock on. I know that saved me a ton when the kids were little.

By Crystal915 on Monday, December 3, 2007 - 07:43 pm:

Most cell phone companies can bar outgoing calls. I work for ATT business care, and I know we can have our tech dept hotline an account for that purpose. Of course, it's not supposed to be done, but I'm sure you talk the cell phone company into it.

By Mrsheidi on Monday, December 3, 2007 - 09:58 pm:

Thanks, ladies. Stori, we don't want her to call my brother at work all the time either. If there's ever a true emergency, she can have the nurses call. With schizophrenia, we never know if there is a true emergency and her speech is *very* difficult to understand. We just need to let her know we're coming and/or just to say "hi", "love you", etc. Plus, she'll still be able to call 911 and we definitely don't want that.

I'll ask our cell phone company and see what options are there. We use TMobile.

By Bobbie~moderatr on Monday, December 3, 2007 - 10:42 pm:

Heidi, would she remember to plug it in to recharge it?? Honestly, if she doesn't have the ability to understand not to use it to call out, would she have the ability to remember to charge it nightly?

The only phone that comes to mind would be a Firefly.. It can dial out calls, I do not think that there are any phones that do not have the ability to dial out. But with Firefly you can lock it so she can only call set numbers and she can only recieve calls from the numbers in her phone book. It has present buttons and no key bad..

By Mrsheidi on Monday, December 3, 2007 - 11:37 pm:

I visit her every day so I can charge it for her, in case she forgets. I think she would remember to charge it if she knew her kids would need to call her on it. She only calls out when she has an "episode", as a result of her mental illness or just feels the need to call us, which could be a lot. She doesn't have too much of a memory problem...just mental illness.

I think the firefly is like the migo. I'll have to look into it.