The hours nobody covers
Evenings, weekends, four in the morning. The times a question is most unsettling are exactly the times there is no one to ask.
For older adults living at home
A phone line that always answers.
Your mum picks up the phone and someone is there — to answer a question, to talk something through, or to put her straight through to you.
OperatorTuesday, 9:12 in the morningOn a call
MargaretHello? I can’t remember if I’m meant to see the doctor today or tomorrow.
OperatorHello Margaret. Your appointment with Dr. Osei is tomorrow at eleven, and Susan said she’d drive you.
MargaretOh good. Could you tell her I’ll be ready early?
OperatorOf course. Would you like me to ring Susan now, or send her a message?
Why we built it
Between the daily phone call and the emergency call, there is nothing.
Most of what an older person needs isn’t urgent and isn’t medical. It’s a question at an odd hour. A name they can’t place. A worry they’d rather not bother anyone with. Those moments fall between the people who love them and the services built for crises.
The calls that don’t get made
People go without rather than be a nuisance. A line that is patently not a person’s evening changes what feels reasonable to ask.
The device nobody wants
No app to install, no screen to learn, nothing to charge. Operator works on the telephone that is already on the hall table.
What Operator does
Four things, done properly.
We would rather do a short list well than a long list adequately. Everything here works on an ordinary phone call.
Answers
Picks up at any hour, recognises who is calling, and remembers what you talked about last time.
Explains
Answers questions in plain language, at the caller’s pace, and repeats anything as many times as it takes.
Connects
Puts the caller through to a family member, or passes on a message — so “ring my daughter” is one sentence, not a search for a number.
Checks in
Rings on a schedule you choose — a morning hello, a reminder before an appointment — and tells you how it went.
- Operator is not an emergency service. It cannot send help. In an emergency, call 911 — and Operator will say so.
- Operator does not give medical advice. It can remind, explain what you have told it, and pass a question on to the right person.
Hear it
Four real conversations with Operator.
A sample recording is on its way — four everyday calls, exactly as Operator handles them.
- Calling a family memberComing soon
- Updating contactsComing soon
- Checking emailComing soon
- Listening to a bookComing soon
Designed for the caller
Built for the person actually holding the phone.
Almost every decision in Operator follows from one fact: the person on the other end may be 88, may be hard of hearing, and did not ask for a new piece of technology.
- It waits. Long pauses are not treated as the end of a sentence.
- It speaks slowly and clearly, and will happily start again.
- It never rushes anyone off the phone. There is no queue behind them.
- It says what it is. Operator tells callers it is an assistant, not a person — every time, without being asked.
“She rang it four times the first week. Twice about the boiler. Once because she couldn’t find her glasses. Once, I think, just to talk to somebody.”
Getting set up
Ten minutes, from your own kitchen table.
You do the setting up. Your parent does nothing at all — the first they need to know is a number to ring.
1
Tell us who it’s for
Their name, the phone they’ll call from, and who should be reachable if they ask for family.
2
Say what matters
Appointments, the names of grandchildren, which neighbour has the spare key. As much or as little as you like.
3
Give them the number
Write it on the pad by the phone. That is the entire instruction they need to receive.
Plans
Operator Personal, for someone at home.
One straightforward membership to stay connected to family, friends, and the things that make each day feel familiar.
Operator Personal
For a senior or family member using Operator at home. One simple membership for personal use.
“The front desk answers the same nine questions all day. Operator takes them, and puts the tenth one through to a person.”
For care communities
Running a community, not a household?
Operator runs for residents, their families and your staff on one line per community — with warm transfer to your front desk in hours, cover outside them, and the ability for a staff member to take over a live call at any point.
Providers with more than one site add a private space per community, so a network of ten runs the way one does.
Give them a number that always answers.
Set it up tonight. Tell them about it tomorrow. Nothing to install, nothing to charge, nothing for them to learn.