Tag Archives: alzheimers

How Smart Tech Will Take Care of Grandma

February 20, 2014   Alzheimer’s, Carers, Older care, Social care

Motion sensors watch an elderly man’s movement around his home

By Kiona Smith-Strickland

Lena Almquist, a Giraff robot and Malin Nilsson at the 4th Annual Elderly Festival in Örebro Sweden.

Giraffplus

February 4, 2014 12:30 PM

Motion sensors watch an elderly man’s movement around his home, looking for stumbles or extended stillness that could mean a fall or a medical emergency. Smart appliances look for changes in a woman’s routine and alert caregivers to possible distress. An automated home-safety assistant offers an Alzheimer’s patient a gentle reminder to turn off the stove before he walks away.

The great hope for senior care is that smart technology will provide an assist that helps older people live independently and stay in their homes rather than have to move to an assisted living center or nursing home. The question is, what shape will that assistance take? Out-of-the-way, non-intrusive sensors? Or actual robots, like the happy little helper in Robot & Frank? Some tech companies have already begun to design systems of both kinds.

Smart Home in a Box?

At Washington State University (WSU), computer science professor Diane Cook and psychology professor Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe have developed what they call a smart home in a box. Wall-mounted sensors monitor a person’s movement around the home, while other sensors track the status of water faucets, stovetops, and other appliances. An automated system can speak up and remind the resident to turn off the stove or alert him or her to other home safety concerns.

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Retired nurse aiming to tailor dementia treatment for sufferers

January 11, 2014   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia, Norfolk

Retired psychiatric nurse Lois Ransome is launching a business helping people with dementia to “come alive” in their own homes.

Saturday, January 11, 2014
12:30 PM

Retired pyschiatric nurse Lois Ransome is launching a business helping people with dementia to Retired pyschiatric nurse Lois Ransome is launching a business helping people with dementia to “come alive” in their own homes. “Bring Me Sunshine” Picture: James Bass

The 56-year-old said she had seen for herself the benefits of engaging with sufferers and wants to combine her passion with enterprise.

And by re-connecting people with dementia or Parkinson’s disease with their memories they could make more of today and feel valued, she said.

Mrs Ransome, who has worked within the NHS at Northgate in Great Yarmouth and in care homes, believed her business was unique in Norfolk, chiming with government thinking about helping people to stay in their own homes.Her work involves helping the mostly old folk maintain what function they have and to add interest to their lives they can share with others.

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Carers also need to be cared for

January 10, 2014   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia
All too often carers put their own wellbeing second to that of a sick family member

By The Sentinel  |  Posted: January 10, 2014

IT IS hugely positive that Staffordshire Fire and Rescue and community pharmacists are to work together to help protect vulnerable older people, particularly those in the early stages of dementia from being injured or killed in house fires.

As our population ages and dementia becomes a greater public health problem there will be an ever-growing need for such partnerships.

For too long older people suffering from this cruel disease have been sidelined by an overburdened welfare state.

Anything that strengthens the support network on which they depend can only be a good thing.

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