Family photos for my mother

This is just a simple idea which may help some people.

My mum has lived on her own since my father died a couple of years ago, and she quite often wants new photos of my daughter, or my girlfriend and I to put in her apartment. For me this is a bit of a pain, as I tend to stick to digital photos, and view them on my laptop or phone. I never get them printed for myself.

I had the idea to get a digital photo frame for her so that I could add new pictures when I visit, and this works well, however an even better idea would have been to get an internet enabled photo frame so that I could automatically upload them for her online whenever I added new pictures!

Most homes have an internet connection nowadays, and the vast majority of these have Wi-Fi. While my mother doesn’t, a quick scan when I was there last showed that 5 neighbours do. So the plan is to ask a kind neighbour if I could add the photo frame to their network so that my mother can get new photos without ever having to do anything.

A frame like this will cost around £150, and once it’s switched on and connected, it can receive photos via private sharing web pages, email, and other sources quite easily, and totally remotely, so my mother would only have to turn it on or off.

I’m sure she’ll love this, and for other people, this idea could really help distant relatives with feelings of exclusion or isolation.

Hilary’s story

I’m posting this on behalf of a colleague named Hilary with her permission.

Several years ago, my husband suffered a stroke which affected his speech and a couple of years later he developed vascular dementia.  When he was first losing his speech he was able to communicate through a mixture of speech, sign language and writing.  As his dementia progressed his speech completely disappeared, and he was unable to write although he still had sufficient cognitive function to be able to read and recognise and understand signs.  It was at this stage that I became aware that there was software available that he might be able to use on a mobile device.  We purchased an Apple iPod, and downloaded 2 different types of software.  The first comprised icons of regular things one might want to say – for example there was an icon (a heart) and when touched the device said “I love you”; there was an icon for coffee which when touched said “Coffee please” etc.  The second type of software allowed the user or carer to type in a phrase or sentence and assign it to an icon, and when it was touched the phrase or sentence was spoken.  We went on holiday one time and before we went I programmed the software so that my husband could introduce himself to new people and say a little about himself.  I also programmed it so he could order his own wine or beer without my having to be present!  The software allowed a range of voices to be selected – male or female, English or American, etc.

 

Use of this device was very useful.  It allowed my husband to retain some elements of independence and control, when a lot of the daily functions of his life were in the control of others (e.g. help with dressing, etc.).  It allowed him to communicate with other people which in turn encouraged them to speak to him, rather than go through the whole “Does he take sugar?” scenario.  In short, it gave him self-esteem and pride.

 

Sadly, the device could only be used successfully for about 6 months.  At the end of this time my husband was no longer able to switch it on, access the software or select the icons so then we had to revert to sign language and eventually to my trying to gauge what he wanted through just looking at him and trying to interpret his facial expressions.  However, during the time it could be used it was great – and I would certainly recommend a similar device to anyone who has trouble communicating.

My dad, and an iPhone

Just wanted to write a post about my father, and how his circumstances were helped by my iPhone at the time.

Back in 2010, my father suffered a couple of strokes. The first went undiagnosed as the hospital thought he’d simply had a bad fall. The second was more serious and he temporarily lost the use of half his body, and speech. He was in hospital for almost a month, and during this time my mother and I visited him regularly.

After the first week, he was able to say yes and no to things, however we soon realised that these responses could actually mean anything, and usually not what we assumed them to mean, and the hospital staff were equally perplexed. I had the idea to see whether writing Yes and No on a piece of paper for him to point at may help. Surprisingly enough they did. No matter what he said, he always pointed to the correct response on paper.

This started me thinking, about a notepad he could use, unfortunately he was unable to write at the time, so I started to write a series of what I hoped would be common questions he may ask, and answers to things so that he could just point to them. It proved too cumbersome for him to hold the notepad and flip pages with one hand though, and it seemed that having a lot of things on one page also confused him.

During a session with one of the consultants, it turned out that the notebook idea had been tried by the occupational therapists already, and they deduced that he wasn’t ready for that yet, however he was recovering, so it could just be a matter of time before it would work, or that if we wait longer, he could simply regain movement and speech to some as yet unknown degree.

That wasn’t good enough for my dad though, he was clearly getting stressed by not being able to communicate, and frustrated by not being understood. I had to do something. He was 76 at the time, had a PC and a laptop, and a modern mobile phone, so quite technically capable and IT literate. Perhaps I could do something with the laptop? I created a few web pages with sub sections of questions and answers, so in theory, he could move the mouse pointer to click on the sections he wanted. It meant that not all of the information was on the screen at once, so it should be less cluttered and easier to use.

The laptop idea turned out to be a bit too complicated, and more cumbersome for him to use than the notepad idea, and it actually caused him more stress as he clearly wanted to try, but was unable to use it. It gave me hope that there may be an easier solution though, so I started to think about the problem more. having a laptop on a bed table, and moving a mouse pointer was difficult for someone with movement and mobility issues.

Perhaps if I did the same thing on my iPhone, he could tap on the links. He should be able to hold it in one hand, and use his thumb quite easily.

It worked to a fashion, although he did tap other things out of a strange new curiosity and get lost in the links quite a lot. But the overall idea was working, so I did some research.

I learned that the speech issue was called aphasia, and that there are some rather expensive touch screen computers with buttons that people can speak to talk via the computer’s artificial voice. They could ask questions, answer them, and tap out custom responses (sometimes with help from someone else). So my idea wasn’t that ground breaking or original, but it meant I was on the right path.

It turns out that there was an app available for the iPhone to help people with aphasia, I chose one called Small Talk Aphasia just to try it.

This worked perfectly, and within the app, he found it very easy to find his way around it and use it. Fortunately by this time though, he was already starting to regain more of his movement and speech, and it seemed a bit redundant to try and get him to carry on using my phone with the app each time we visited.

I hadn’t considered using a smartphone right at the start though. It could have been any small mobile device though, like an iPad, or Android tablet, the thing was that nobody at the hospital had considered it, and there didn’t seem to be much about it online other than very expensive dedicated computers designed specifically for the task.

I have told this story to several people over the years when the conversation brings up strokes in other peoples families. I know I helped at least one person, who’s story I’ll post on here also, so it left me with the passion to try and see if there are other ways cheap off the shelf gadgets can help improve peoples lives.

Gadgets

I work for Solihull Council developing and promoting the use of telecare and assistive technology – or gadgets as we like to say.  We use specific equipment designed to promote independence for older and disabled people, or to help keep people safe.
I know that there are lots of applications of mainstream smart-phone and tablet technology that could benefit the people we support.  I want to find the best way to bridge the gap between the people who need support and the people who are experts and innovators in the use of this technology.  I think this could bring some significant benefits to people’s lives.
One simple example is using GPS tracking via someone’s smart phone rather than buying a specific GPS tracking device designed for people with dementia.  This can be a low cost and immediately available solution – depending on circumstances.
I’m really interested to hear people’s ideas about how we can achieve this, and to hear examples of where disabled or older people (or their families and carers) have used this technology to improve their lives.