Brain injury inspires invention of memory aiding app
ON AN AVERAGE DAY, how many small tasks must you remember to complete? Taking your medication, watering the plants, taking out the garbage, or picking your child up from an after-school activity? Now imagine you had a brain injury, or Alzheimer’s, dementia or ADHD, which left you unable to remember these simple tasks.
After a car accident in 2005, Sergio Di Giovanni was faced with this challenge as the accident left him with the loss of his shortterm memory. All that was offered as a solution was to simply write everything down, using a paper and pen.
“These solutions as memory aids and coping strategies didn’t work for me,” Di Giovanni said. “It was very frustrating, so I decided to take matters into my own hands.”
He teamed up with Mohawk College’s centre for applied research — ideaWORKS — to develop Qcard, an app designed to help you remember, plan and complete everyday tasks. The app also allows users and their f amilies to delegate appointments, daily tasks and reminders together.
“We’ve spent the past few years validating our product with both users and health-care professionals. We’ve listened to their feedback and want to refine the product,” he said. “We are looking to incorporate an occupational therapist dashboard for backend data and management.”
The company is also looking for funding to take their application to the next level by pairing it with wearable tech.
Di Giovanni is planning to not only integrate with smartwatches, but also with near field communication (NFC) tags for smarthome integration.
“I know my application can make a significant difference in people’s lives that have been affected by neurological trauma or disorder,” states Di Giovanni. “Our vision is to help others achieve success and independence in their own lives despite fighting uphill battles while living with brain injuries, Alzheimer’s, dementia or ADHD.”
Di Giovanni has become an advocate for those living with ABI, speaking at various conferences across Ontario, about his journey and creation of the app. He will be presenting at this year’s Ontario Brain Injury Association Annual Provincial Conference being held in Niagara Falls in November.