To make things easy and presuming that there's time to ship, buy your dad any prepaid disposable phone with some minutes on it and your # programmed. As he'll be using it at DTW if at all, it will be a standard US phone. All he has to do is press the button and he can speak to you and you can interpret for an agent.

The baggage situation won't require him to recheck the bag, simply drop it after Customs. It will already be tagged to EWR at PVG.

Unfortunately, if he does misconnect, it's the last flight of the night. DL will rebook him, but won't likely deal with a hotel & food. He should have a CC with him to pay for a hotel and any necessities.