One of the first and most debilitating symptoms of dementia is short-term memory loss, which means care is required for people who are otherwise quite capable of looking after themselves. They can perform tasks, but they forget them or how to do them.
To address these concerns and enable mild dementia victims to continue to lead independent lives for an extended period of time has been researched, and possibly solved. The effort brought together some of the leading dementia specialists in Europe, doctors from the Netherlands, Sweden and Northern Ireland, with teams of software researchers and developers.
Separate devices and solutions exist for many of the needs, and if people learn how to use them early on, then they may be able to continue using them quite far into the disease, notes Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. But it then becomes a problem for the patient to remember where the devices are, and how each of them works. Also, in later stages of the disease, simplified devices are needed, and at that stage it is usually too late to teach anybody how to use even the simpler devices.
Researchers set out to create two very user-friendly devices, one home-based and one mobile, featuring all the high-priority and previously unmet needs, as identified by end users.
The end result was a flat-screen monitor for the home, which can be either wall mounted or standalone, and a mobile smart phone with a much simplified user interface installed.
All the user has to deal with are simple, self-explanatory icons on the touch screen. The in-home system can be set up to start issuing reminders from wake-up time in the morning until bedtime. These can be recorded in a friend or relative’s voice, and give instructions for all sorts of activities such as picking up the morning newspaper, brushing teeth, preparing or warming pre-prepared meals, laundry and dish washing and myriad other daily activities.
The system was field-tested on user groups in three countries, and the majority of users perceived significant improvement in their lives and their ability to get through the day.
About two per cent of the population of Europe suffers from mild dementia.
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