Intro

Care innovations are products or devices that can aid caregivers. They have many forms and functions, ranging widely from simple hidden clips that lock drawers, to alarms that detect opening doors, to sophisticated pill dispensers that ensure the right pills are dispensed at the right time in the correct dose.

There are surprisingly few devices specifically for people with cognitive impairment which is unsatisfactory given the many severe challenges that persons with Alzheimer's and their care givers face.

We are currently researching products and devices which are used in areas as diverse as security, communications, business, location monitoring and information management, which might be adapted to facilitate care.

Our first caregiving innovation, now under development, is a series of good care instruction videos that will be added to our Good Care Practices section. These training aids will combine good care practices, video technology, keyword searching and the internet for 24/7 online access.

Other innovations under development include:

Activity Monitoring

Caregiving can quickly become a 24/7 job leading to burnout. Having a team and a system in place helps.

Our activity monitoring innovation will allow a caregiver, care team or third party to monitor a Care receiver remotely. This will enable more frequent care giver respite at home, better care sharing and the option to ‘pop out' for errands without having to bring the person with Alzheimer's along. Other potential uses include sharing behaviours or situations that occur at home with health professionals at different time or place.

Location Monitoring

Being lost is scary and potentially dangerous. Our location monitoring innovation will reduce the risk of a person with Alzheimer's becoming lost and/or the speed with which they can be found again.

Attention!

Our Attention! innovation will allow caregivers to get the attention of a person with cognitive impariment in order to control or change behaviour (distract, interrupt, soothe), communicate, prepare for an upcoming task or combat repetitive questions.

On Tour

Mobility generally declines as the disease progresses, due to reductions in balance, coordination or muscle tone, losses in cognitive ability, or perhaps loss of a driver's license.

Our On Tour innovation will allow a person with mobility limitations to get out virtually and visit familiar spots, such as their neighbourhood, or distant locations that they have, or would like to have seen.

Hear it Again

This innovation uses audio recording to capture verbal information and allow the listener, or their team, to hear it again, any time, anywhere, as often as they like.

Information heard initially in a distressed state, or by only a few people, can be misheard or misinterpreted, leading to potential errors.

Re-hearing the information repeatedly, or during a calmer time, and sharing it with others, incerases the likelihood of it being understood and acted upon appropriately. This improves the quality of care.

Touch Screens

The ability to communicate can decrease when a disease progresses, however the need for effective communication during care giving never ceases. Touch screens, with image-based symbols can be used to compensate for declines in cognitive, speaking, listening and writing abilities. Icons can be created to communicate emergencies quickly.