Technology to Help People with Dementia Remain in Their Own Homes

Mrs. A tends to put pans on the stove and forget them. Her neighbors are concerned about the fire risk. A heat sensor has been installed above the stove to alert staff of the response center, who telephone her to remind her to check. Mrs. B sometimes goes out in the middle of the night in her nightdress. An electronic sensor above the front door is timed to alert the response center if she does, and a neighbor has agreed to be contacted to get up and take her back home. She is too disabled to go very far. Mr. F lives in a "smart house" equipped for people with dementia. He too leaves pans on the stove, but in his case, the smoke detector and the heat sensor are linked by computer cable. When they are activated, they automatically alert the local resource center, and the computerizd system in the house switches on the fan, turns off the stove, and unlocks the front door. THE FUNCTION OF TECHNOLOGY These descriptions illustrate a few of the ways people with dementia can be assisted by technology at home. In each case, the technology is part of a thorough care plan (Marshall, 1999). There are many other supports also being provided, and the technology meets very specific needs at a particular point in the illness. There are numerous ways technology can assist elderly people generally (Cullen and Moran, 1992), but in dementia care the technology can be described as serving three main functions: (1) improving safety of the individual and others, (2) monitoring and maintaining health, and (3) enhancing quality of life. It is important to stress the life-enhancing potential of technology because the prevalent tendency to focus on safety is often not what is important to the person with dementia, but is, rather, a preoccupation of others. Assistive technology for people with dementia has two sources: It is being developed by engineers in order to meet the specific needs of people with dementia, and it is being developed or put to use by practitioners who work with people who have dementia. Examples of the former include the following: * A device worn by the person with dementia that either alerts staff or locks the door when the person tries to leave. These devices are usually used in institutional settings. * A stove that registers when a saucepan is empty and automatically turns off. * Memory training games played on a screen that can be activated by touch. * A telephone reminder pad with photographs to press-for a person who can no longer remember numbers or read them in the phone book. Examples of technology being developed or adopted by people in practice include the following: * The heat sensor used by Mrs. A and the electronic sensor by Mrs. B, which are simple pieces of equipment widely available. * The wrist device used by Mr. C, developed for athletes who need to monitor their body function while in training. (He is prone to acute infections but is unable to understand when he has a raised temperature and needs to seek help. He now wears a wrist device that monitors his temperature and alerts a response center if his temperature deviates from normaL) * The use of cable television is widespread by community organizations although rarely by old peoples' facilities. Mrs. D gets very bored and restless at home. Her daycare center has now become linked to cable and provides a channel on her TV and for those of other users of the center with clips from key events at the center, key landmarks in the town, and other material users enjoy. * A medication pager system that was designed for younger people with brain injury helps people like Mrs. G, who forgets to take her medication. A computerized paging device has been programmed to alert her when it is time to take her medication. These examples show the creativity that results when there are good links between the world of technology and staff in dementia care, and it seems likely that we will see the development of agencies with this specific role as the potential of technology is more widely recognized. …