You might want to look into getting a prepaid phone of some kind, even if it's not a smart phone. Having a portable emergency communication device seems like a good idea even if you're opposed (for whatever reason) to cellphone use in general, and a prepaid phone won't give you monthly bills or contracts to worry about.
If that's no good, then how about Google Voice? In addition to its other useful phone-related features, it allows sending and receiving of text messages.