I learned a new task to help my mom with her phone. One that is a bit unusual. But one that is making a huge difference for her.
I already know how to pick my mom’s phone up if she drops it. And I can go get it from various places. So now you are probably wondering what an unusual task involving the phone would be.
Whenever my mom drops her phone I pick it up for her!
A few years ago my mom got a new wheelchair. There was an option available that she thought would be a great addition.
It was a special holder made by Ram Mounts that would attach her phone near the armrest. And a connector with a port that gave access to the chair’s battery for charging.
Right away she loved the whole setup. It was convenient to have her phone attached to her chair. And reassuring to know she would never run out of battery power.
Original phone holder on my mom’s chair!
But as time went on the phone holder became more challenging for my mom to use. With her declining strength, it became harder for her to squeeze the spring-loaded RAM X-Grip holder to release the phone.
My mom liked the way the whole thing was attached to her chair and wondered if there might be another type of phone mount that could work. And there was!
The new phone holder on my mom’s chair!
It is a spring-loaded RAM Quick-Grip holder. Instead of squeezing the bars on the side, you pull a piece from the top to expand the opening for the phone.
Although she soon realized that this was almost as challenging as the original setup. Which was disappointing.
But she has me to help her. And there surely must be a way that we could make this work. Because I can easily learn new things.
So my mom and I did some brainstorming. And came up with a way for me to expand the opening of the holder.
The tug rope we attached to the phone holder!
Fortunately, the design of the holder works well for adding a tug rope. This gives me the ability to pull the spring-loaded top piece outward. So my mom can either put the phone in or take it out.
I do have to say the spring is strong and requires me to tug hard. I can understand why it was so challenging for my mom. It took me some practice to learn the best angle for me to pull. And just how much pressure it took to expand the space. But I mastered it quickly!
It was fun learning a new task. And extra special that I could make it easier for my mom to manage her phone. Because finding ways to increase my mom’s independence makes me happy!
