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.

Comments

nothing will work

[turkeydance]

to your satisfaction. i have the same situation. tried 4 times. failed 4 times. only and ONLY 24/7 human supervision is appropriate.

Try Floor Stickers

[Anonymous Coward]

For all the common areas use floor stickers. Like breadcrumbs.

For rooms that might get messy depending on number of residents and distribution

If he can't find the dining hall...

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

All of you fail

[YrWrstNtmr]

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.

Re:All of you fail

[Kjella]

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.

Pretty much this, the only way to make sure he actually gets to the dining hall or back to his room is to have a person making sure of it. No matter how great the device is it's highly doubtful if he has the mental capacity to make use of it, most likely he'll forget where he has it, why he has it and how to operate it. That he could manage on his "own" with such a device sounds like a combination of nerd hubris and wishful thinking on behalf of the relative. You can't fix this with a gizmo.