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Ask Slashdot: Local Navigation Assistance For the Elderly?
An anonymous reader writes: I have an older (90+) relative who is experiencing mental decline. He's still fairly functional (you can have a decent conversation with him, and he's amazingly positive for someone in his condition), but his memory of anything recent is terrible. He's in an assisted living center, but he's having serious trouble for example finding his way to the dining hall and back to his room. He has visitors daily and the staff are supportive but 24/7 oversight is not an option. I am looking for a navigation system suitable for use indoors that will help him move around. The distances involved are short, and his schedule is pretty regular so it would be OK to have a schedule of where he usually is at a given time (lounge, dining hall, room) and a big green arrow that always points out which way he should go to get there (so it would need to accommodate doors and hallways etc, not just the straight line direction). Is anyone here aware of such a system? I've thought of trying to write an app for a smartphone but I'm not sure if GPS is really the way to go, seeing as it's indoors. Also, battery life would be an issue — he would have trouble remembering what to do if it stopped working and I'm not sure if he'd remember (or be able) to connect a charger. For the same reason it would need to be pretty bomb-proof — he's not in position to troubleshoot if it fails.
to your satisfaction. i have the same situation. tried 4 times. failed 4 times. only and ONLY 24/7 human supervision is appropriate.
I don't think there are any readily available solutions for your problem and it's not an easy one to solve either with an independent device. GPS is useless indoors and more so with the resolution you need (the few meters between bedroom and dining hall).
You would have to build your own solution for this problem, using Arduino, most likely. Relative positioning using accelerometers is your best bet for an independent device, but positioning error builds quickly and you would need it to reset the error by making a reference to an absolute marker every now and then.
Non independent solutions could use RFID tags placed at regular intervals on the walls, granted the living center would have to let you do that too.
As for the display, a circle made of LEDs should be fairly easy to make. Just light up the ones pointing in the correct direction.
The more of the mental activity you replace, the less there is. My grandma gets smarter with some of my aunts and dumber with the ones who baby her (or boss her around).
It isn't what you'd call god's gift to style; but there's a neat little idea floating around of the 'haptic compass' that provides the user with a tactile cue about where north is, with the idea that this subtle, but persistent, stimulus will be integrated into their overall navigational capability.
For your use case, you probably wouldn't want a system that points 'true north' all the time; but if you have an itinerary, you only need a real time clock and the user's current location to provide a haptic nudge in the correct direction. Are GPS or AGPS fixes within this facility OK, or is this system going to need to navigate the hard way?
Once again Jeremy, James and Richard from old new Top Gear were way ahead of you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
What you need is a large GPS device that only has 4 buttons, Home, Bingo, Shops and Little Jimmy's House. It would also need to randomly point out random local facts like "That place was bombed during the war you know" as you drive by points of interest.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
Think adding complexity like a GPS is counter productive.
The easiest fix is having external cues, like an alarm clock and easily identifiable items (like a picture of his kids, etc.) on his door (so it is easy to identify his room).
Pairing with another patient to check in with him is also helpful, as well as mentioning to staff his decline so they know to check in on him more often (and possibly move his room closer to the dining hall).
Elderly and technology do not mix. Especially someone with a failing memory.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
Both audio and touch feedback (via a glove to guide the blind in a supermarket). I just saw the glove thingy on a science show on TV, can't remember who's developing it.
Lots of signage (eg "dinning --->"), a printed schedule (eg "12:30 be in dinning") and a watch (maybe with alarms?).
Option 1:
RFID + Monitors and Panels throughout facility.
Reads your bracelet or whatever device as you walk past things, prompts you to go to certain directions. I would assume equipment to deploy this would be a few grand and a hell of a sell to the community managers. So.. strike this one down.
Option 2:
RFID / Tracking iRobot + Telemetry Tracking + Display Module
If you could get an iRobot to follow him via a device or wearable that is low/no power - this would be ideal. The machine would self charge, and follow him throughout the day. Depending upon how much battery/charge is being used, you may need larger power packs or multiple charging stations.
However, i am sure this robot would trip many people, causing more harm than good...but there may be a way around this.
There are robots from iRobot you could start with!
have fun..
If he only has more or less one route back and forth, a system of Infrared leds, that might hang on the ceiling or walls.
A "necklace", kind like those ones that are used in those home alert ones, but with something like a RaspPi in them. The IR LED's would be flashing in a manner similar to a remote. Some would mean "Go straight", some "Turn Right", some would mean "Turn Left"
Now the next part is on the Necklace. It has a IR receiver, and has a speaker that blurts out the needed direction. Since the directions are different depending whether he's coming or going, you'll have to shield the Transmitting LED's
The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
I have been working on a system that would *eventually* do that. It uses temporal planning software, among others to walk the user through their daily routines. Here is an example plan it has computed.
Plan computed:
Time: (ACTION) [action Duration; action Cost]
0.0000: (MOVE ANDY CS-LOUNGE DOHERTY-LOCKER-161) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000]
0.1500: (PICK-UP ANDY LAUNDRY DOHERTY-LOCKER-161) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000]
0.2500: (MOVE ANDY DOHERTY-LOCKER-161 FORBES-AND-CHESTERFIELD) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000]
0.4000: (SET-DOWN ANDY LAUNDRY FORBES-AND-CHESTERFIELD) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000]
0.5000: (WASH-LAUNDRY ANDY LAUNDRY FORBES-AVE-LAUNDROMAT FORBES-AND-CHESTERFIELD) [D:2.0000; C:1.0000]
2.5000: (MOVE ANDY FORBES-AND-CHESTERFIELD BAKER-LOCKER-18) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000]
2.6500: (PICK-UP ANDY ELECTRIC-RAZOR BAKER-LOCKER-18) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000]
2.7500: (PICK-UP ANDY TOWEL BAKER-LOCKER-18) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000]
7.0000: (MOVE ANDY BAKER-LOCKER-18 UC-GYM) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000]
7.1500: (SHOWER ANDY TOWEL UC-MENS-LOCKER-ROOM-SHOWER UC-GYM) [D:1.0000; C:1.0000]
8.1500: (MOVE ANDY UC-GYM BAKER-LOCKER-18) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000]
8.3000: (MOVE ANDY BAKER-LOCKER-18 DOHERTY-4201) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000]
8.4500: (SET-DOWN ANDY ELECTRIC-RAZOR DOHERTY-4201) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000]
8.5500: (CHARGE ELECTRIC-RAZOR OUTLET0 ANDY DOHERTY-4201) [D:12.0000; C:1.0000]
20.5500: (PICK-UP ANDY ELECTRIC-RAZOR DOHERTY-4201) [D:0.1000; C:1.0000]
20.6500: (MOVE ANDY DOHERTY-4201 FLAGSTAFF-HILL) [D:0.1500; C:2.0000]
24.0000: (SHAVE ELECTRIC-RAZOR ANDY FLAGSTAFF-HILL) [D:0.2500; C:1.0000]
It's not done though, it requires a lot more work, but I have been making some recent progress. My plan is to make a web based version available for the execution monitor, that would work with mobile, because I couldn't figure out how to get the android app to work again once they changed development methods.
The system is mentioned more here:
http://frdcsa.org/frdcsa/internal/verber/
and here:
https://www.newschallenge.org/challenge/data/evaluation/personal-life-planning-assistant
It would take some important work to adapt it to your use case. Please contact me if interested at andrewdo@frdcsa.org.
due to their love of robots, low birthrate, and lack of young people to make nurses out of.
http://www.engadget.com/2015/0...
But anyways... sounds like what you need is full smartphone capability (including ability for you to write your own apps) PLUS roomba's self-mobility and self-charging capability. Have you tried welding an iPhone to a roomba?
For all the common areas use floor stickers. Like breadcrumbs.
For rooms that might get messy depending on number of residents and distribution
How could you expect him to keep up with a small device he's not familiar with? I'm sorry to hear of his decline, but it happens - he WILL need 24/7 supervision. Don't exacerbate any confusion he already has, either bring him home and take care of him yourself if possible or find a facility that can. My mother worked in nursing homes, and I followed - any technological advance to make the elderly more "self sufficient" after they've started failing mentally just will not work.
Try and use TrackEnsure and see if it works for you. You can set up 'Trips' there, you can set up 'Zones' (boundary zones, exclusion zones, reminder zones). You can set up Meetings (to meet based on fixed location or based on current phone location). You can also set up appointments (different functionality) and you can set up projects that you are working on, tracking time between different projects on the phone.
It would need to be something that the person is already familiar with...unfortunately, that is not the situation today. Now, when you're in the same position, using technology will be second nature, and you'll have no problem finding the dining room.
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
The navigation and positioning companies have been spending on research for indoor positioning based on RF sources like Wi-Fi access points but, last I heard (~2 years ago), it never worked all that well and required specialized software to map out the building and also to compute positions. Beacon based solutions (small Bluetooth or other RF beacons placed strategically) also work but require installation and maintenance, plus specialized hardware & software to compute the position.
If things have changed since then, I haven't heard about it.
A deck of photos that she can flip trough. First page could have two photos or pictures: where I am and where I want to go. This would help her find the deck she needs. The she would flip through the pages as she made her way to where ever she wanted to go. Picture of the right side of the dining hall, that nice painting of a dog at that one corner, that long red rug, view from the window of the thing they used to bomb during the war you know, the big clock and piano at that other corner and finaly her own door or bingo or something.
I don't know how to keep stable gradients indoors, but I find smell sometimes very helpful in creating internal maps, providing continual unconscious analog distance measurements to known landmarks of known scents.
Trouble is, it's absurdly easy to completely saturate indoor air with a given scent; and it's gradients that are useful for unconscious mapping, not intensity per se. A source at one end of a room, needs to be complemented by a sink at the opposite end; otherwise the map becomes useless in half an hour, when the air becomes fully saturated and stable.
LED's, arrows on the floor. smartphone, arudino, flip book, GPS...all fail
If he can't remember the way down the hall to the dining hall, how in the hell is he going to remember to pick and follow directions on the damn phone?
How to get him to the dining hall and back? Someone holding his hand in both directions.
QR codes - many of them, printed out on large stickers stuck to the hallways doors, etc.
Your smartphone app would display a live camera feed. When held up to a specific QR code, it gets a position and orientation fix (using an internal database of codes in the app). The app then overlay arrows on the camera feed (possibly augmented with audio cues to the relative in your voice).
This is similar to how Amazon's Kiva robots scan QR codes that are placed on warehouse floors.
Regarding dementia - try virgin, cold-pressed coconut oil. See: http://www.coconutketones.com/
Why not try ancient tech, pencil and paper.
Create a set of instructions to be executed in numerical order:
1) Leave the dining hall using the big white double doors.
2) Continue to the Sidewalk intersection with the flower pot in the middle.
3) Take the rightmost sidewalk
4) Go left on the sidewalk just after the building with number "289A"
5) Enter the building marked 289A at the 3'rd sidewalk entrance.
and so forth.
Print up a few hundred of these for the trip to and trip from each of the points he has to go to. When following these instructions, he can mark off each one with, say, a highlighter to let himself know at what part of the journey he is, in case he forgets. You could even make up these instructions with visual cues, such as photographs of what the closeby landscape should look like at any point.
Dunno if it'll work, I've never worked with people losing these cognitive abilities. All I can say is give it a try.
There was a project at the Computer Architecture Group at MIT to provide extremely precise location information, based on a portable device and acoustic broadcast units scattered around the building. It was called the "Cricket Indoor Location System", and it was much too expensive per unit and worked about as well as a Volkswagen emissions test: the results were great, but the internal emails about how to cook the tests for publication were *fascinating*.
See, these clowns were running their core file servers with NFS version 3 exposed to the world at large, with home directories and email and CVS passwords and all *sorts* of things unencrypted, which is partly how I found out about it. It's amazing what you can learn about scientific research when "computer scientists" decide to run their own special little network, with their own complete lack of security on it.
Sadly I've experience this as well. With failing short term memory you can't really change habits, learn a new tool, etc. Its too late. Such things have to occur before short term memory becomes too bad.
In my situation we'd have intelligent conversations (yes, long term memory was rock solid) about things to do differently, we'd agree, but by the next day it was all forgotten. Various devices like medical alerts and such would sit on the dresser gathering dust. You can't get the new device added to the routine. When short term memory was still OK we had the device but the family member blew it off, "I'm OK, I don't need that yet". And that opinion gets locked in and the device remains on the dresser unused years later when it is needed.
You have to get the elderly family member to change habits and use a new tool before short term memory degrades. You have to explain the preceding, that new habits need to get wired in while still relatively healthy. Keep in mind that you will be severely limited with respect to upgrading the device. A replacement needs to be substantially similar in look and usage.
I am elderly and have been programming computers on a daily basis since I was 19 years old. I would like something I can live with for when my memory starts to fail.
Start now, don't wait. Get new devices, get upgrades, etc while things are normal but keep in mind that one day things will get "locked in" so look to longevity of equipment, maybe have spares or things that family members will be able to find spares for (get same model device from eBay etc). You have to be very open to changing daily habits (ex. check meds and refrigerator, call someone to checkin and share med/fridge state, wear that medical alert device).
You can *not* blow these new habits off thinking "I'm still OK, I don't need to do this yet". You will probably not be aware of passing the point where your memory is such that you cannot form new habits.
Don't be fooled into thinking you are OK because you can remember detailed things from 50 years ago. Long term and short term memory are two very different things, the later can fail while the former is still perfectly functional.
I read through all these comments naysaying technology. This is /. after all so _something_ should be possible so it occurred to me you could do something like the following: First setup a collection of Bluetooth beacons, one in the center of each room. Next make a room map of these with appropriate connections in the style of say, the Zork game. The lounge connects to hallway connects to dining room. Next hack together a small computer which talks. The _only_ thing that has any hope of helping is a voice guided system which requires zero user input. At dinner time the system would determine a route, beacon by beacon, to get to the dining room, etc, and would keep hassling the user until in they arrive. Its hard to say how well it would work and like everyone else said you probably need that 24/7 support but the development would be a heap of fun! I intentionally did not Google around too much; perhaps something(s) already exist which implement pieces of this.
a random walk algorithm.
Having had a loved one go through assisted living and memory care facilities as they progressed toward what inevitably awaits us all in the end I would say that you need to have regular, informal conversations with the administrative staff at the facility where your relative resides. These shouldn't be scheduled in advance, unless you want to hear the same scripted responses you heard when you initially checked out the facility. Instead, at the tail end of a visit with your relative go hang out at the communal coffee pot/snack table that these facilities put out for the residents and their guests. Administrative staff at these facilities will typically make a point of joining you rather quickly to have that "feel good" conversation to ensure you aren't about to rush your relative off to another (typically more affordable) facility. You will likely get more useful information this environment than the standard salesman script these people stick to in almost every other situation (the 'you people messed up, we're done with you' conversation is about the only other time they will actually give you candid answers, IMHO). Questions you should bring up during such an informal encounter should focus on what sort of memory cues they provide residents to avoid situations such as wandering the halls looking for their room and/or the communal dining area, have the staff noticed your relative having memory/behavioral issues repeatedly at certain times of the day (look up sundowning if you aren't already familiar with this) and an assessment of the amount of social interaction your family member has with other residents.
This is what they used to do at the preschool I went to. It won't work for every situation but should help most of the time. You will also need some buy-in from the workers at the care home, they may not agree to it. Simple solution is color-coded lines along the floor. Red line goes from bedrooms to the dining area, green line to the rec room, etc... Add a few arrows here and there so they don't get lost when multiple red lines converge... He just has to remember the line he's on. 90% of the time it should work. If he forgets that then he would've forgotten any phone or app anyways. Staff still has to work but it's not 24/7.
Cwm, fjord-bank glyphs vext quiz
or he will be scammed.
That and the complexity of technology.
If he needs 50 memories to turn on a tablet, find the apps screen, start and app, remember the swipe, pinch gestures etc. Then losing a few of those will break that operation.
Really, he should spend as much time as he can with his relative, the time will be very short now, and forget the magic fixes that ultimately mean nothing.
What about a small laminated map that can fit in his pocket? Maybe with a hole in it so it can be tied a belt loop in his trousers.
Not sure if any are being trained for this sort of situation. But I can see some benefits other than just guiding the relative around
If he's failing at basic orientation over short distances, then he's probably not capable of following instructions on a smartphone, charging it, or keeping it with him consistently.
24/7 care is in many ways the most human and respectful way to assist him.
Because he's going to struggle with decision making and responding to directions, a solution that depends on him cognitively tying together abstract temporal and spatial concepts (e.g. if I charge my phone tonight, I'll be able to have breakfast tomorrow), it needs to be built into the infrastructure.
I'm not sure I'm entirely comfortable with tagging people like farm animals, but so long as he's identifiable (bracelet, implanted RFID, facial recognition ...) reminders, and directions could be totally personalised and built in to the added care facility fit out. Think "Ender's game" and "follow the green path to lunch" flashing lights.
This will eventually fail as well, at which point human care will be the only assertive way of helping him.
Its a very sad situation, but a technology solution based on a smartphone isn't going to cut it.
4 inch wide tape in different colors on the floor, with text in it saying where each strip leads to.
Works on hospitals (Here in Denmark) for guiding patients around. Just follow the red line to the waiting room, or the yellow to x-ray.
A memory aid dog. An acquaintance of my brother has a brain injury, and he uses (and actually trains) dogs to help him around. Might not be practical in an assisted living situation though. Read more about him here. https://www.psychologytoday.co... http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Depends on what you mean by losing some steps in the process. If they change due to hardware or software upgrades sure. But they are not necessarily lost due to memory issues. In my family member's case the problems were entirely short term. Anything in long term was rock solid. 5 years ago or 50 years ago it was all there. But a conversation from yesterday, gone. Of course someone with a different illness could lose both short and long term.
Perhaps a series of devices that can autostart an app would be useful. The hardware might get an upgrade if necessary but the app can remain constant with respect to user interface changes. Turning on and charging would need to be similar, wireless charging might be helpful there.
" But they are not necessarily lost due to memory issues."
I doubt that, your old memories are no more stable than theirs and without constant re-inforcement (short term memory repetition) you'll lose them too.
It gets more like Dotty here (watch till end):
https://vimeo.com/128544536
There is quite a bit of ongoing university research into this area, including UK and Japan, and probably more widely. It generally involves cameras to track an elderly person in the house, and/or underfloor and/or worn sensors to monitor gait, plus knowledge of daily routines, a central processing unit, and loud speakers to then give prompts.
AFAIK it is not production ready, so I don't think you'd want to make your relative a guinea pig for prototypes.
My grandmother lost her recent memory. Got worse over time. She lived a very long time; eventually she denied my own existence. (She remembered the names of other family members, but I'm about 5-8 years younger than my next youngest cousin, and she disagreed when I said my parents had me.) Perhaps your solution will only work if it was taught to him 35 years ago. As is, you probably can't teach him anything, not "charge the phone daily" or even "follow the green arrow". If, by chance, he does pick up the things you try to teach him, he may lose it as memory gets older.
Create a schedule based turn by turn directions type system waiting on confirmation from the user. I think an Ipad with a nice kid safe cover and maybe a shoulder strap would be a good idea. Below is my idea of how it would work out.
You setup schedule items for the different tasks that need to be completed at certain times.
The Ipad dings/vibrates/flashes or does something to get attention of the user.
Text comes up on the screen asking a basic question. "It is 12pm would you like to go have lunch?" then you have yes / no buttons below the question.
The next question is "where are you currently located?" you put options for all the areas where your user is likely to be room / common area / dinning hall / etc / etc
Then you can display a map with a highlighted route and give turn by turn directions on how to get from their starting point to the end point.
"Exit your room and turn right." with an "OK" confirmation button
"Have you reached point 1 yet?" buttons for yes/no
"Continue down the hall way until you reach the nurses station." with another confirmation button.
"Have you reached the nurses station(or point 2, however you want to name your waypoints) yet?"
etc
etc
"You have reached the dinning hall" with a "done" confirmation
You could also have where they could select destinations when it is not scheduled, but this would be something that had to be learned so i am not sure how to do that. If you can schedule everything then I guess that is OK.
I think having a map and turn by turn directions with waypoints marked on the map would be something that could be used without having to learn how to do it. You could even include instruction to tap the buttons so that all they would have to do is be annoyed by the device enough to look at the screen then trust it to follow its instructions. I think this solution has merit because it is very straight forward and not technically difficult to do. Writing an app to do this should be a breeze you could probably even hire a contractor off the internet (or a CS student) to do it for a few hundred dollars.
I had a nicer post worked out but changed my options while in the preview and it was deleted. So please forgive anything i am missing now or spelling mistakes.
" But they are not necessarily lost due to memory issues."
I doubt that, your old memories are no more stable than theirs and without constant re-inforcement (short term memory repetition) you'll lose them too. It gets more like Dotty here (watch till end)
I watched a close family member that I knew all my life. Long term was not affected by the illness, only short term. I was not being figurative, memories from 5 years earlier and 50 years earlier were intact. I had extended conversations related to work and family that went back to the 1940s and 50s. Only yesterday's memories were gone.
"memories from 5 years earlier and 50 years earlier were intact"
Some sure, but without reinforcement, memories simply fade. This is not a special trait of old people, its how the brain works.
We can sit people down in front of tech they DEVELOPED from 20 years ago and they can't remember squat about it. These are not old, or Alzheimer, they're simply people. Very few even remember the key combinations to unlock a phone, let alone the T9 keyboard, if you watched the video you'll be reminded its menu-*.
Does the process that loses their short term memory, lock in their long term memory? No. They have their long term memories which will become fewer and fewer over time.
Didn't Disneyland and Disneyworld solve this years ago with rented guide bears, stuffed bears programmed with maps of the park and local guide beacons in nearly every area of their tourist parks?
This is going to depend a lot on the form of dementia. If you'll forgive a horrible over-simplification, the big question is whether you are dealing with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) or with one of the progressive forms, of which Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia are the most common varieties. I've had one grandparent with MCI and another with Vascular Dementia and they require very different responses.
If you're dealing with MCI (and it is the most common form of dementia), then some kind of technological solution might get you somewhere, depending on how comfortable your relative is with technology. MCI tends to advance slowly and the symptoms could remain mild for years to come. A device that gives a few easily-recognised prompts might help.
If you are dealing with one of the progressive forms of dementia, then forget it. With Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia, the symptoms will progress rapidly and viciously. Your relative's current state, where he is basically coherent but forgetful, will not last long. His personality will rapidly change and, over time, he will appear to withdraw into himself completely (though you will potentially pass through stages along the way where he wanders and becomes depressed or even aggressive). Within a year or two, he is going to require full-time nursing assistance for even basic bodily functions and he will increasingly not even recognise close family members. There are some interim steps you can take to manage your relative's quality of life in the early-to-mid stages, but clever technological tricks are not likely to play a role.
Vascular Dementia took about 3 years from diagnosis (so probably 4-5 years after initial symptoms) to turn my granddad into what was basically a hollow shell. The progression is not the same in every case; while the usual pattern is for short term memory to go first, the point we realised my granddad had something more than MCI was when his long term memory was damaged fairly suddenly and he lost all recollection of everything before the age of 20 or so (including the fact that he had grown up in Ireland and only moved to England in his late-teens).
You might already have done this and just not thought to mention it in the article you submitted, but I would suggest that your first step should be to seek a diagnosis. Only once you have that can you begin to think about how best to manage things and whether technology has a role to play.
A random new solution - If the old age home he lives in would agree to have beacons in a set of places delivering a signal over Bluetooth, then there could be a solution to read the beacons (just like GPS) using an app and then deliver turn by turn directions. There could even be alarms for someone leaving the grid, delivered to a central location.
This is a business idea that a business could build for guiding shoppers in a mall, and they also deliver as charity to old age homes. I am sure some large malls and other businesses would love this... Someone mentioned Disneyland possibly had this. Anybody up for a kick starter project?
"I am looking for a navigation system suitable for use indoors that will help him move around. "
The navigation systems you're looking for is a 'sign'.
You put them on walls in eye height saying "This way to the kitchen' or "down here for the restrooms."
It is crucial to understand what problems your relative is suffering, and how advanced they are. Some forms of dementia mean that people cannot form new memories, however much they try. It's not like forgetting where your keys are - it is no longer biologically possible to ever remember where you put them. It doesn't matter how easy it seems to remind or make it "easy" to remember, it is a function that doesn't work any more.
You also need to understand what other cognitive impairments he is subject to. There may well be some that surprise you, and nix a solution you may have in mind. Some sufferers do not know what time of day it is, let alone what day of the week it is. They can't recall if they have eaten, if it is time for bed, et cetera. Once you understand some of these limitations you can better think about if you can help them, and if so, how.
Also key is understand that elderly people can learn new tech - my Mum, who is in her late 70s, has taken to a tablet like a duck to water. She has never used a computer before, ever. Not even a typewriter. She has grasped the UI, the design concepts, and most importantly, the silly ways it doesn't work like when "taps" aren't registered. She's at the stage where she is learning how to use it on her own now. This is all because she isn't suffering a cognitive illness. But if she was, despite being a smart, methodical person, she could not have learned any of these, however simple and obvious it is.
I don't want to be a downer for you, but just want you to make sure that any efforts you put into helping your relative aren't wasted. I understand the urge to help, to make life better. We're geeks and we can apply our skills to improve a lot of things. We spend our careers giving the gift that makes someone say "Wow, I didn't know I could do that! Thanks!" But we also learned to diagnose properly.
I am soon to be 58. I can already sense the degradation. My memory is not what it used to be. I hold a PhD in Applied Mathematics, from MIT even. Yet, I can't remember what I had for dinner last night. (I'm not actually sure that I ate.) My memory loss is actually improving though - when I sold and retired I went on a hell of a bender and stayed on that bender for four years. So, it's improving but slowly and I don't think it will all return. I think I've done permanent damage but I don't complain - I had a hell of a time. That and some of the memory loss seems different than I experienced while drinking/heavily drugging.
Some stuff seems etched in stone. I can recall a conversation, verbatim, from a week ago. I double check to make sure I have my keys even though i picked them up a few minutes ago. I can recall a specific instance from my childhood. I forget what I went to the store for. I can watch a documentary, one involving hard science and actually complex and educational, and you can ask what I'm watching and I'll tell you that I have no idea. I won't remember it tomorrow.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
You're going to have to stay low tech with this, and become 'disruptive'... but only slightly. The environment is probably far more sterile (less nav clues) than the places he has lived most of his life.
Find some stickers that are well shaped arrows in bright colors, not too large but big enough to be seen at a glance. Place the stickers at eye level on the wall in the hallway across from his door so the arrows are the first thing he sees when he leaves the room. At every left/right junction, another arrow at eye level.
Make two or three arrow paths with different colors going to the places, and by the door inside his room have a simple diagram that associates color with place. Don't worry about the return path unless it becomes a problem.
This is a special needs case and if the staff are supportive as you say then here is a way to test it. Just do it, don't ask permission, if they have half a brain they will figure it out and if the arrows are removed, just place more until they leave them up OR come to you and claim it's a problem. If they do your best tactic is to refrain from anger and take on a position of incredulousness, saying "Why would you remove the arrows and confuse him like that?" as if doing so was just fixing a problem. The lack of clear navigation cues is their shortcoming, not his.
Maybe you'll help them to wise up and repaint the corridors creatively so every hallway and junction has unique color and shape cues that people can commit to memory more easily, and people can hold on to their dignity and not get lost like rats in a maze.
<blink>down the rabbit hole</blink>
Personally I am starting to see the humanity in a more brutal time where large land predators picked off the old, the weak, and the sick (and the stupid).
Slowly fading away like that would be hell.
It needs a talking Roomba. "Lunchtime, Ted! Follow me."
And as a bonus, it cleans the corridors as it goes.
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Laminated paper map.
A small robot with a distinguishable features can lead him to where he should be. The bot can dock itself for charging similar to a Roomba.
On a side note; to all of you agist pricks, I hope you feel the same way when you get to be frail.
This is the answer, you need to get him to trust anything else. Trust is a big problem. Dementia is very very sad.
Forget technology, I believe it will be easier for you relative to relate to a dog, as friend, a companion and help.
Smartsoles may be something to consider.
http://www.gpssmartsole.com/
Based on personal experience, you can forget technological aids. Sorry. It's all about getting the right environment and the right carers.
One of my top ten 'clever solutions' to a problem was used (perhaps devised?) by a care home near me. They had a long driveway and trouble with residents who had a nice patio area to use wandering off and getting lost. So the home got a bus shelter built near the bottom of the drive. No buses, just an authentic shelter. Residents would get lost, wander around a bit, spot the bus shelter and go and sit down and quite happily wait ages (it was the UK) for the bus. CCTV would spot them and and an orderly would walk down and help them back again.
The only useful system would be operated by the facility. It would involve a server tracking the residents. It would feel somewhat like the Star Trek computer. Older efforts would have involved the resident carrying a card or pen that the system could ping (and such systems exist), but cards can be forgotten by residents, and existing designs can't tell which way the resident is looking, which is important for being able to give instructions like "turn around". Modern computer vision techniques might be up to the task, allowing tracking residents without need for a non-removable wrist strap, and could also give facing direction. A plus, from the facility's perspective would be faster detection of falls, for example. Control of many locally placed speakers permits targeting instructions. Control of indicator lights and/or monitors could assist in giving directions. Such a system could integrate with more invasive monitoring (pulse, breathing, etc.) for residents in worse shape. It would be a big project, and a potentially lucrative one for a supplier of medical aids, like GE or a lucky startup. But there is no substitute for staff, and one possible "actuator" is informing staff that a resident appears to be wandering, distressed, or incapacitated.
but 24/7 oversight is not an option
It is in a higher acuity setting, like a skilled nursing facility.
As Woody Allen said - memory is 90% attention. You're probably not experiencing any memory-loss issues at 58, it has more to do with how you're encoding new memories. On drugs and especially alchohol, the processes of laying down new memories is warped and possibly "shut down" at times (e.g. during a black out). Double checking for your keys is a habit. You probably didn't spend a lot of attention to the fact that you picked them up in the first place. Likewise with your documentaries, you're mostly just enjoying a pass-time and not caring about what it is or applying the content, so, the brain doesn't bother assigning it as much salience (i.e. importance, relevance) as it might to a conversation you had last week.
Find a shape and sound that he'll relate to and wants to catch (wife, son, St Mary, ...). When he strays from the path or stops, a small drone takes off in the right direction and says to follow. Add speech recognition if he spontaneously calls for it to assist him. Closest off-the-shelf tech is a trained doggy, and it shows affection too.
You need to rely on very basic functions and build upon existing behaviour.
Mental decline is not always due to a disease of the brain. Make sure there's at least one person around (a few times per year at least) that won't shy away from truths he wants to face. Too many elderly people are alone while trying to face their end of life because nobody around is ok to face their own, the other elderlies are stuck in their own spiral of despair, so all ears are shut. The old person usually can't face this loneliness and chooses the less painful senility. The person speaks of death but nobody catches on. (e.g. "I'll die soon!", people answer "No you're all right" and that's it, instead of e.g. "Yeah, so do I", which usually quickly leads to "I want to die", and after a few more steps an authentic relationship is possible.) Make sure at least one person around knows that death is not a failure, a looser's end -- and this is not just a mindset so words can't explain that properly. A death can be successful too. There's still a great challenge to meet there. Achieve this and sometimes you'll see a demented old hag turn into something incredibly strong and inspiring.
Only sometimes though--there's brain diseases, and then many people manage to die stupid just like they planned.
Strongly recommended read: La mort intime, Marie de Hennezel (translated as Intimate Death, or as Seize the Day, I only read the French version). I never read another book in the same category, describing, in my words, successful deaths (other than the hero-saves-children-at-the-cost-of-his-life type).
I also think he's unlikely to adopt a new device, but if he already wears a watch and you can switch it for one of the new smart watches, that might work.
The watch would have to do three things:
1) Generate an audible reminder when it needs to be recharged. You could write an app that measures battery charge and when low, the watch shouts in a loud female voice (travels farther than a male voice) that the watch needs to be plugged in for recharge.
2) Navigate to and from the dining room. This will NOT work with GPS, which requires a clear line of sight to the satellite. But you might be able to combine a timer that knows the interval between each turn with the inertial sensor in the watch to tick off the seconds betqween turns as long as he is moving. If he stops, the timer should stop. That might work pretty well in reporting when to turn. The watch could show an arrow to point out the desired direction and a voice that speaks "turn here" and then say aloud the direction and maybe even say how much distance / steps (or time) to the next turn.
This nav mode should be easy to turn off, perhaps verbally or with big control buttons on the display (on / pause / end).
3) Be a watch. It should look like whatever timepiece is preferred and legible, digital or analog, in whatever color combo works best.
Finally I would emphasize, despite your best efforts, this person almost certainly will not use the device. Few at that age like electronic gadgets, even when their brains are fully operational. If you do this, it will largely be for your own peace of mind, to help you feel like you did your best to help.
In the last couple of months of my 80 year old mother's life, I built a nice little web portal for her laptop that would help her navigate her favorite radio station, TV channel, web sites, and a TV guide. But she never used it. Good luck.
Interesting, thanks. I'll have to remember to ponder it. ;)
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Memory can't really be simply broken down into short and long term memory. There's memory of events, memory of how to do certain tasks, memory of people and a few other distinctions.
I have a memory problem where sometimes I forget what it was I set out to do for a little while, but if I wait and do nothing for a little while, it will come back to me.
I have to use a large font for things to view them comfortably and the browser makers seem to want to blame the sites for why the page gets rendered wrong at large font sizes. I suppose they think that overlapping text is a desirable outcome.
From what you tell I guess that there is something emotional involved in the problem...
Dogs make good bonds. And if he does not get attached, he might not remember to feed him. So, it would fail.
But perhaps, the company might make the difference. And trained dogs are aware of timetables and places.
I hope that this helps.
Keep on trying.
I think the site designers are more at fault than the browser designers. Don't use tiny fonts driven by script, making them unenlargeable. Don't design your site so taht text starts overlapping ifna reasobanle degree of browser enlargement is being used.
UCLA has a dementia/alzheimer's study going on with some real help - search parameters - ucla beam alzheimer's disease
OP here - thanks for the advice (and thanks to all the other commenters). I will look into the details - he' s had great healthcare (three cheers for socialized medicine) so he's likely been diagnosed, I will talk to another relative who is managing his medical care. He's probably in between those two extremes - he was comatose after a stroke during bypass surgery, then clawed his way back to fully independant living in his 80s and has slowly gone downhill since. Realistically I don't think he has a lot of time left, and I'm not all that surprised that there is not a good existing solution. But as someone said downthread - you hope anyway...
The standards committees for possibly HTML 5, javascript, and CSS, have some bearing on the situation as well.
Memory can't really be simply broken down into short and long term memory. There's memory of events, memory of how to do certain tasks, memory of people and a few other distinctions. I have a memory problem where sometimes I forget what it was I set out to do for a little while, but if I wait and do nothing for a little while, it will come back to me.
The problems with memory depend on the specific illness. The illness of my family member primarily interfered with recent memories migrating to long term. For example the loss of a conversation and a plan from a day or two ago. Hence the characterization of the problem as short term memory loss. Existing long term memory was not affected by the illness, just the formation of new long term memories. One could have perfectly normal conversations and recollections so long as one went back 5 or more years, and seriously, these could get very detailed and technical. I'm not a medical professional, apologies for the imprecise terminology.
We also get more sensitive to forgetting the little things as we age. Forgetting what one had for dinner last night at age 20, no big deal. At age 60, oh shit, do I need to see a doctor?
:-)
A professor once offered an interesting description of learning. Its selective forgetting, discarding the unimportant things and keeping the important. The trick to learning is telling the two apart. Perhaps last night's meal gets discarded in this sort of selection.
I do the keys thing too, but I've been doing it for many decades. When I was young I got into the habit of touching the pocket where I routinely put my keys and then the pocket with my wallet. In the last decade I've transition to three touches, adding another one for phone. Moments of confusion result when wearing something with cargo pockets and I put the phone there. Hopefully its the breaking of my routine and not age.
I can understand that. Sometimes I wake up and find that $body_part is sore and I'm like, "Damn it, that's going to be permanent isn't it?" Fortunately, my doctor assures me that I have the constitution of a horse. I still wonder when I wake up that way. Ah well...
It's only bad when you've searched your pockets three times and still don't find it and have to have someone else pat you down and they find it on the first try. Yes, yes that has happened. As stated in a post/reply just prior to this. I need a life coach or something.
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
The thing is, a person can have trouble integrating into long term memory the things that have recently happened to him but still learn new tasks without remembering the events that happened during that learning. That doesn't mean that's always the case, but it might be worth pursuing.