Dont think she can handle switching to smart phone. Thought about installing land line as back up so she's not stranded and maybe one of those life alert deals but afraid she may abuse that for any minor emergency. Was away for a weekend once and she called 911 from her phone as it was the only button that worked, I guess to tell them she was left without food. (Doesn't drive) officer came and checked she did have food in the fridge but not what she was in the mood for. He took her out to brunch!
You should let your local media know and get this great cop a big public woohoo.
I agree, she needs a landline. A phone that does not plug into an outlet just plugs into a phone jack. One that is not a cordless. I say this because, when the electricity goes out, so does the phone. You need one like the old fashioned phones as close as u can get.
OY.
One very important thing to remember that when someone dials 911 from a land-line it automatically gives to the 911 Dispatcher the address of where that landline is connected. Thus, if an elder has a stroke and can get to the phone but cannot speak due to the stroke, the dispatch can send out EMT's to make sure everything is alright.
Cannot do that with the cellphone unless the cell has some type of GPS location and even then it may be hard to pin point property location, especially in an apartment building.
Us older folks grew up with landliens, thus we know when the phone rings, pick up the receiver. With a cellphone, one has to stare at it trying to remember how to do answer this crazy thing :P My boss has a Smart Phone, and honestly I have no idea how to answer it. But then again, he may not know how to answer my flip-phone.
I have a land-line phone in every room of the house. No fear of misplacing those phones, and too big to fall between the sofa cushions :)
Also ... we've had the same landline number for over 35 years, and we have relatives who are far older than we are. It's hard on them when people change numbers, so, for the duration, we won't change ours.