Care homes

Many residents don’t want, or can’t manage, a smartphone. A desk phone with real keys and a proper handset is easy to use, always in the same place, and always charged.

What it does

• Family on the keys. Each resident’s phone is their own: lift the handset, press 1 for their daughter. Their family calls them from the companion app on any phone or computer.
• Only people they know. Calls come only from people the resident (or whoever helps them) has accepted. No phone numbers, so no robocalls and no scam calls.
• Reception, by extension. MENU, 6 and the front desk’s number rings the staff on duty as a ring group: whoever answers first takes it. A key can also call a member of staff directly.
• Voicemail on the handset. Missed calls show on the screen, and messages play in the handset.
• A daily check-in (labs). The labs firmware can ask a resident to press “I’m OK” each morning and alert their family if they don’t. It has been tested on a computer, not yet on a real board.

Not an emergency or nurse-call system

Open Lounge Phone can’t call emergency services and has no link to the phone network. It isn’t a nurse-call system or a medical device: keep the home’s own alarm and call systems.

Start

1. Get started with an Organization space for the home, and invite each resident’s family.
2. Pair a phone as My own phone for each resident, and connect them with their family under Connections.
3. Set up a ring group for reception under extensions and ring groups, and voicemail.