practical living
App-y homemaker
Software gives virtual, 3D tours of residences, complete with tips for how to make them better places for people living with dementia. By Dallas Bastian
Alzheimer’ s Australia Vic has launched an app that uses interactive, 3D game technology to provide carers with ideas to make homes more accessible for people living with dementia.
The Dementia-Friendly Home app recommends practical changes that may assist a person living with dementia.
Suggestions range from small and inexpensive ideas, like placing labels with pictures on cupboard doors, to more significant changes, such as installing motion sensors that turn lights on and off when people walk through the house and changing busily patterned wall or floor coverings.
Maree McCabe, chief executive of Alzheimer’ s Australia Vic, says the app aims to enable people living with dementia to maintain their independence and continue living at home.“ It may also help build on their self-esteem, which can have a profound impact on the quality of life for a person living with dementia, as well as families and carers.”
The Dementia-Friendly Home app allows users to virtually tour a seemingly 3D home environment and to visit specific rooms and areas as desired.
“ Where there are question marks displayed, if you hit on the question mark it shows you how to make the environment more dementia friendly,” McCabe explains.“ There’ s one on the hallway on the floor [ for example ] and when you hit on that it talks about the presence of rugs and how they can introduce a trip hazard and what you can do then to reduce the risk of falls in the home … It really does allow people to walk [ virtually ] through the home and identify the areas that can work better for people living with dementia.”
Other advice offered within the app includes the use of colour and textures to help make an environment safer and more easily navigable.
McCabe says such advice could prove valuable for carers facing the challenges associated with the activities of daily living and showering.
“ When you go to the bathroom on the app it shows you the way to highlight the toilet; it’ s got a different colour wall behind the toilet,” she says.“ Some of the biggest drivers from home into residential aged care are continence issues. Often people living with dementia will go into the bathroom and they won’ t know where the toilet is, so they’ ll go on the floor. But when you highlight the toilet with a different colour wall at the back it makes it obvious for people and it facilitates their ability to maintain their continence and stay at home longer.”
Carer Norm Smith, an early user of the app, says he is interested in seeing how the app works due to his background in IT.
Smith, whose wife Cathy is 53 and living with dementia, says using the app affirms ideas he had come up with involving labelling cupboards and keeping floors and hallways clear and well lit.
“ It also made me realise I need to try to pre-empt situations that could be challenging for Cathy when we visit other people’ s homes or our church,” he says.
Meanwhile, the national office of Alzheimer’ s Australia has launched an upgrade to a free app that aims to help people improve their brain health. The group says BrainyApp now reflects the latest scientific research and engage more with users. The app, from Alzheimer’ s Australia and Bupa Health Foundation, has been downloaded more than 370,000 times since its launch in 2011, exceeding expectations.
In the lead up to the BrainyApp upgrade, Alzheimer’ s Australia chief executive Carol Bennett drew attention to the link between lifestyle choices and a healthy brain.
“ What’ s good for your heart is also good for your brain, so by keeping active, eating a healthy well-balanced diet, maintaining our social connections and challenging our brains, we can start to take control of our brain health today,” Bennett says. n
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