Phones and Family Contact in Nursing Homes

Reviewed by the RBNH Editorial Team. Last updated October 2026.

Residents generally have a recognized right to communicate with family and friends, and most facilities today support this in several ways: a resident's own personal cell phone if they can manage one, a shared facility phone or tablet for residents who need assistance placing a call, and staff-assisted video calls, which became far more widely offered and formalized as a way to maintain family connection during periods when in-person visiting was restricted in recent years and have largely remained in place since.

If your loved one is not able to independently manage a phone or device, ask the facility specifically how staff support video or phone calls for residents who need help: is there a scheduled time, a dedicated staff member who assists, and how is privacy handled during the call. For residents with hearing loss or cognitive impairment, ask whether staff have experience adapting calls to make communication easier (for example, a staff member helping hold the device at an appropriate volume or pace).

Privacy During Calls

A resident has a right to private communication, which can be harder to arrange in a shared room than it sounds. Ask the facility how it handles this in practice: whether a resident can take a call in a common area or a quiet space away from a roommate, and whether staff give some notice before entering a room during a scheduled call. For a resident who gets confused by an unfamiliar device, a consistent routine, same time of day, same staff member helping, same chair, tends to work better than an ad hoc approach.

Questions to Ask

• Does the facility provide a tablet or device for residents who do not have their own phone?
• Is there a charge for staff-assisted video calls, or is this included as part of standard care?
• How does the facility handle a request for an urgent, same-day call outside a resident's usual scheduled time?
• What is the backup plan if a resident's hearing aid or device needs troubleshooting mid-call?

Keeping a Number Reachable Long-Term

If a resident keeps their own personal cell phone, make sure at least one family member knows the account details and payment method, since a lapsed personal phone plan can unexpectedly cut off a resident's main line of contact at exactly the time families most want to stay in touch. For a shared facility phone or tablet instead, ask how the facility handles device charging, software updates, and what happens if the device is lost or damaged, so a temporary problem does not turn into a weeks-long gap in communication.