The Goldton at Adelaide
Newsletter

1. Backing Up Memories.
A Samsung app helps Alzheimer’s patients stave off this unsettling shift. Backup Memory acts as a memory stimulator for people who are exhibiting early signs of Alzheimer’s disease. “Recent studies have shown that mental stimulation in the form of regular reminders of past events could potentially slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease,” says Azer Jaafoura, one of the product’s developers.

The app “helps patients become aware of their immediate surroundings by identifying nearby family members and friends, and also reminds patients about their relationship with each person and memories they’ve shared in the past through photographs and videos.”

2. Implanting Memories.
What if the memory itself could be implanted? Swiss scientists are researching how brain plasticity might one day lead to the ability to change the way we remember events. While the research is initially focusing on helping to erase or replace traumatic memories, the work carries the implicit possibility for those whose memories are fading with time.

And neuro-optometric rehabilitation (redirecting cognitive pathways through visual adaptation), which has proven successful with traumatic brain injuries such as concussions — where other treatments did little more than provide temporary symptom relief — may hold out promise for Alzheimer’s patients as well.

3. Knowing the Memory Loss Mimics.
It’s also important to be aware that what looks like Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia may not be memory loss at all, but a TBI (traumatic brain injury). As DePaul University professor Clark Elliott explores in his eight-year odyssey with TBI, The Ghost in My Brain, a concussion can cause symptoms that masquerade as dementia due to cognitive processing problems.

Elliott devised a brain assessment self-test that mirrors that of the fictional Alice: he would ask himself, “What are the names of my children?” and gauge his brain’s functionality for the day based on how long it took him to answer: anywhere from six seconds on good days to more than three minutes on “bad brain days.” So if your loved one has fallen and hit their head, a medical assessment can confirm they aren’t suffering from a TBI, especially if you or they fear they may be developing dementia.

4. Smart Homes for Seniors, Not Millennials.
Swedish designer Kevin Gaunt thinks smart home technology ought to target seniors rather than Millennials. And his vision focuses on mental health rather than thermostat controls since one of the great challenges many seniors face is boredom, which can lead to mental decline.

Gaunt imagines the smart home of the future as having “the equivalent of a fuse box full of bots, each of which is denoted by simple symbols (a stack of coins for banking, or a bag for shopping) and can link their functionality together to battle boredom in the elderly.”

His vision also includes a bit of rascalry, as this short video demonstrates: a shopping bot orders the senior client a skateboard in lieu of flowers, a socializer bot alerts her when a pesky neighbor is about to ring the bell, and, perhaps most poignantly, the personality bot mimics the bad puns her departed husband used to make.

5. Mental Monitor.
With someone in the U.S. developing dementia every 66 seconds, how do you know if, or when, an older loved one is becoming cognitively impaired? MyndYou knows.

MyndYou is a mobile platform that monitors cognitive, physiological and behavioral metrics to provide dementia insights. Its algorithm leverages data from sensors to detect changes, and conveys their implications, along with recommended actions and therapies, to family members and designated medical professionals.

Because MyndYou allows families to make decisions based on objective information, it can improve quality of life for all involved — and give everyone a better sense of when it’s appropriate for a loved one to move from assisted living into The Goldton’s memory care neighborhood.

6. Dementia Directive.
Most people are familiar with an advance directive, also known as a living will, that will inform family members and health care professionals about your wishes in the event you cannot speak for yourself. But there’s an even more vital document when it comes to memory care: a dementia directive.

Even with an advance directive, a senior may not be appropriately covered if they develop dementia. A dementia directive focuses on the types of care choices someone would likely want if they were diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or another form of cognitive decline. It is important to complete a dementia directive well in advance, as by the time a family member or the senior themselves realizes it would be useful, they are likely to have lost the capacity to make these decisions.

7. Virtual Pet Companions.
What if a senior loves pets but is no longer able to care for a live one? GeriJoy may be the solution: virtual care companions, akin to tech teddy bears for older adults who require assistance.

GeriJoy is a little like Siri, except the animal avatars are animated by remote humans — trained caregivers who help monitor a senior from afar. Bonuses: these “pets” are always clean, well behaved, never need to be walked, and speak English instead of “Meow” or “Woof”!