I think you are on the right track with writing your own...
alexa:
in my own setup - samsung tv + FIRE tv, Alexa paired to fire tv, Alexa
will turn on the tv
and select the correct source - so will simply pressing
home on fire TV remote. Much of that is down to how the TV maker has implemented CEC, and what else is connected
e.g. my samsung goes nuts if I connect a chromecast, it learns that then forgets all about fire TV... i can manually use Fire TV still but I lose all the auto start/ auto select stuff
Alexa needs a lot more work e.g. from memory "alexa play xxx on Fire TV" works ( and TV is turned on as a side effect, but "alexa turn on TV" gets you " I cant do that"
Same with my xbox . I think "open Xbox" works but not " turn on Xbox" or maybe its vice versa- either way its takes 5 times as long as walking across he room and pressing the ON button !
With both Alexa and OK Google there's an acute shortage of verbs , and logic:
- you" play" music - OK that's intuitive; you "play" a TV show? well ok but then some songs and shows share a name ;you "play" a device - really?? so you "open" a device??? - when was the last time you "opened" your TV ?. Oh and you also "play " an app or channel - Alexa " play you tube on Fire TV" - confused yet
I am, & I don't even have dementia yet
personally: I
play music., I
Watch TV, I
open apps, I
turn devices on & off.
There's an obvious market for an Alexa dementa skill set, maybe linked to some customizable nurse name e.g. Alexa ask Nurse <Jane>" would invoke the skill which would then understand many permutations of time/ weather/calendar/date plus turn on radio / TV....
I wonder how hard it is to write your own skill ?