THE BEST ASSISTIVE DEVICES
Technology already plays a big part in helping those with dementia maintain happy, independent and safe lives, as well as making life easier for the carers who look after them. As the Alzheimer’s Society told us, “people living with dementia and their carers should not be scared to explore technologies that could help them to tackle everyday challenges”. That said, technology should always be used as part of a wider overall support plan and never as a substitute for human carers.
All the assistive products below can be bought from https://shop.alzheimers.org.uk, www.unforgettable.org or www.livingmadeeasy.org.uk among other outlets, and can often be funded as part of a local authority care package. However, not all types of device will benefit all patients. Before you buy anything, consult an occupational therapist or assistive technology expert to get a professional assessment. Here’s what you can get now, along with three devices that might come soon.
Get reminders
Devices that provide prompts and reminders are extremely useful for anyone living with dementia or any other condition that affects memory. It could be something as simple as a calendar clock that clearly shows the day’s date as well as the time. Or it could be something more sophisticated, such as a motion sensor like the Motion Activated Memo Reminder (around £25). This plays a recorded voice prompt when there is movement nearby – for example, a sensor near the front door could remind someone to make sure the door is locked. Memory-prompt devices, such as the Memrabel 2 Day Clock (around £100, pictured above) can be programmed to
display a series of reminders throughout the day – when it’s time to eat a meal, for example, or take medication. Alternatively, an automatic pill dispenser such as the Mederlet Mark 2 Dispenser (around £70) can be filled and locked by a pharmacist, then set to alert users to take the correct dosage of their medication at the appropriate times of the day.
Locate missing items
Homing devices can make it much easier to locate keys, wallets, purses and other important objects. The Tile Slim (£30, pictured above left) is a credit card-sized Bluetooth tracker that you can slip into a wallet or handbag. The Tile Mate (£24) is a similar device that can be looped on to a set of keys or clipped, stitched or stuck on to almost anything else. The accompanying Tile smartphone app ( www.snipca.com/27514 for Android, www.snipca.com/27515 for IOS) plays an alarm to help you find your item, and also shows you its last location on a map.
As a bonus, Tile devices work the other way around too, helping you to locate a misplaced mobile phone or tablet by making it ring loudly when you press a button on the tracker itself.
Communication aids
Specially adapted telephones, such as the Doro Secure 580 (£105, pictured above right), are much simpler to use than normal smartphones. Its large buttons make it easy to set up numbers you call regularly. And devices such as the CPR Call Blocker V5000 (around £60) can be installed on existing phones to help protect vulnerable users from nuisance calls.
Safety devices
Several devices help dementia patients maintain independence, while offering loved ones peace of mind. In addition to the usual smoke and carbon-monoxide detectors, homes can be fitted with devices such as a Magiplug (around £10), which protect against overflows using a pressure-activated system to release excess water when a certain depth is reached. It also prevents scalding by displaying a colour-coded warning when the temperature is too hot.
Other devices can alert a patient’s carer should they fall. A good example is the Medpage (around £50), which is worn around the patient’s wrist or neck. If they fall, an alert is sent to their carer’s pager.
Remote monitoring
In more serious cases, you could consider using trackers and home-monitoring devices to keep an eye on vulnerable loved ones from afar. Devices with built-in GPS technology, such as the Unforgettable Personal Alarm & GPS Tracker (£150), locate people who have become lost or disorientated, while systems like Tunstall’s Canary Home Monitoring kit (£150) let you watch people in their homes remotely. Canary sensors register a patient’s movement and temperature around a home, updating you by text message. For example, you can receive an alert when someone is out of bed at an inappropriate time of night, or if they don’t visit the kitchen at mealtimes.
The use of cameras to watch patients raises ethical concerns. The Alzheimer’s Society points out that, while such technology can offer people greater independence and free up carers’ time, “there are some aspects of its commissioning and provision that could compromise people’s privacy, autonomy and wellbeing”. Monitoring and tracking devices should only be used when a professional assessment has deemed them necessary.