Those with dementia are unable to read the hands on a clock early in their disease.

Constant questioning about day and time are a common note from caregivers. This is usually due to the fact that reading the hands on a clock becomes impossible for the person with dementia. Digital Clocks help solve this problem until later stages when they lose a "sense of time."

More Seniors Using Technology Stay Home Longer

07/084 Comments

Seniors using Technology Stay Home Longer, especially if they have early stage Alzheimer’s

Smartphone technology and other wearable gadgets are hugely popular right now, and users have been realizing that no matter your lifestyle, these devices can assist with the ease of daily tasks and health.

This technology isn’t just for the young or health-obsessed, either – it can also be used to improve the care of patients with Alzheimer’s.

Automated devices that can be installed at home are incredibly beneficial for caretakers and their loved ones and allow the person with Alzheimer’s dementia to remain at home longer.

More new innovations in Alzheimer’s care include:

GPS tracking devices: Many caregivers of Alzheimer’s patients are wary of their loved one walking too far away from home and being unable to find their way back.

Devices with programmable GPS systems help relieve the worries associated with the wandering that is symptomatic of Alzheimer’s.

These devices allow caregivers to track where their loved one is, even if they have left a pre-designated boundary. GPS trackers come in the form of small battery powered devices, cell phone apps, or even shoe inserts. These devices will send alerts via phone or e-mail that the wearer needs help getting home safely.

Home Monitors: Home monitoring technology isn’t exactly new, but there are many recent improvements on older tech designs.

Already, technology has been developed to facilitate motion sensors on the front door, chairs and couches, and elsewhere in the home, to alert caregivers if there is too little activity over a period of time, or if their actions differ from the norm.

Monitors under mattresses can also be installed, with the ability to detect if the senior in bed is beginning to exhibit irregular pulse or respiratory patterns. For older Alzheimer’s patients, using these tools to catch early warning signs and symptoms can be make a drastic difference.

Wearable pendant or wristband: Wearable monitoring devices are some of the most reliable products for knowing if your loved one is safe at home. Worn around the neck, on the wrist, or pinned on clothing, they are discreet and waterproof so that they can stay on at all times.

Designed with a help button that will alert the wearer’s caretaker or an emergency response team if the wearer is in trouble or suffers a fall. These devices are produced by some of the biggest names in home security, like ADT (see SecurityChoice.com for details) and can also send alerts every 30 days to ensure they are working properly.

Automated home features: Aging seniors with Alzheimer’s symptoms are liable to forget to perform many simple tasks at home. Little things like neglecting to turn off the stove, blow out a candle, or take important medications can have life-threatening implications. There are now automation systems on the market that can be programmed to assist Alzheimer’s patients as they continue to live independently. These systems can be programmed to turn off the gas if your loved one forgets, and also switch electronics, lights, and other home appliances off on a timer.

Coming Up Next – Apple iWatch: While still in the prototype phase, there have been many rumors and speculations swirling about the launch of Apple’s new “iWatch.” An iWatch, or similar wearable technology, could be a powerful tool for people with Alzheimer’s.

This device could be worn like a watch, but would perform like a highly sensitive computer or smartphone. It’s still in the prototype phase, but reports say that the iWatch will be capable of monitoring everything from sleep patterns to glucose and calorie consumption.

The number of innovations in automated home systems and other technology over the past few years has been remarkable. Technology, the next frontier in the crusade to help Alzheimer’s patients and others live longer and more comfortably, promises a variety of new ways to provide compassionate care.

Author bio: Beth Kelly is a technology and security blogger, who primarily covers topics pertaining to healthcare tech, energy efficiency, and home security. You can follow her on Twitter at @bkelly_88

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Memory Loss Digital Calendar Digital Alarm Clock Memory Loss Digital Calendar Digital LED Clock Active Living Oversized Digital Big Button Universal Remote Tek Pal Remote Control Large Button Remote

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FREE for Alzheimer’s Caregivers; Organizers, Tours, Guides, and Information for Financial Planning and Medicare Payments

12/31Leave a Comment

This page has links to FREE Material available online for Caregivers of Alzheimer’s and Dementia Patients. Some are PDF files that you can read now and save to your computer for later reference. Some are forms that can be filled out and printed to save in your personal files. Beneath the Freebie items, I’ve included a few items that are equally helpful, though not free they have reduced prices.

Do you have an Adobe Acrobat Reader? It’s FREE and for many of these files, you will need Adobe Reader to open, read and save these files. Below is a link to Download the latest FREE version, so if you already have Adobe Reader, you may want to download the current version.

FREE Adobe Acrobat Reader Download –> DOWNLOAD

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Alzheimer’s Association Offers a Free Tour of the Brain –>Brain Tour
I know, this does not appear to be an appealing thing. But, believe me, it is interesting and informative. The tour has Interactive Colors which allow you to point and click and learn all there is to know about the areas of the brain as well as the affects of Alzheimer’s on the brain. It answers many questions about Dementia and Alzheimer’s.

The Alzheimer’s Association also offers free information about all the Major Medicare Medical Programs and how they affect Alzheimer’s Disease and the medical attention these patients need. Their latest information also includes the New Health Care Plan which will become affective this coming year (2011) — Choose the PDF file that you’d like to read–

Medicare Programs : Outlines and Benefits

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The National Institute on Aging offers informative PDF files that you can open and read and save for later to share with other family members. Their presentations are easy to read and refer to “real” people and families which makes for comfortable reading. They have a wide variety of files, but the number that you can download at one time is limited. I’ve listed 3 informative ones here, with links to the accompanying PDF files.

Caring for a Person with Alzheimer’s Disease

Unraveling the Mystery of Alzheimer’s

Alzheimer’s Disease Genetic Fact Sheet

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From AARP you can take a Caregiver Stress Test – If you’re feeling over-stressed from all your responsibilities, you can take this test online and learn your score along with appropriate suggestions or action you should take.

Caregiver Stress Test

AARP also Offers Two Organizers that are a Must-Have for every family–

One Organizer is a Personal Medication Record. This organizer Stores all important information that your doctor would like to see at every visit regarding the medication that you take each day. Just Fill In The Blanks–Then Print a Copy for Yourself

Personal Medication Record

The Document Organizer is a must-have too. It’s a place to record every single thing that needs to be saved about your person, house and car. All in one place. It might take a few minutes to fill all the information in, but once you print it out–You’ll have everything in one document.

Organize your documents

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There are several different types of “Power of Attorney.” There is a Medical Power of Attorney, which allows the holder to make medical decisions for another person. There a regular Power of Attorney, and there’s a Durable Power of Attorney. Generally, to handle the responsibilities of a person with Alzheimer’s, you do need a Durable Power of Attorney. You won’t be able to obtain a power of attorney online as it requires an attorney’s assistance. But–this website allows you to see one and learn the requirements that must be met to obtain one.

It’s very handy to know what you need before you go to an attorney. I didn’t have a clue what I needed to take care of my Mom’s finances, and a site like this is the place to learn. Then when you make that first appointment with an Elder Care Attorney, you know what you need and what you need to ask.

Free Sample of Durable Power of Attorney
What you need/What it requires/Circumstances Surrounding
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Due to the cognitive decline for Alzheimer’s and Dementia patient’s, they are no longer able to read the hands on a conventional clock. Already confused, this only ads to their bewilderment. You might notice how often they ask the date and time. Digital Clocks and wrist watches can help with this issue as they are more easily understood.

Dynamic Living Oversized 16-inch X 7.5-inch Digital Wall or Counter Top Clock LEARN MORE

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My Mom Fooled the Doctor about her Memory–How does that happen?

11/1112 Comments

My Mom fooled the doctor about her Memory – How does that happen?

When my mom came to live with me, I changed her primary care physician to my own personal doctor. His office was near-by and I was already familiar with the office staff.

Shortly afterwards, I phoned for an appointment so Dr. Smith could meet Mom and assess her stage of Alzheimer’s. Not wanting to speak about Mom’s symptoms in front of her during the appointment, I requested the nurse give Dr. Smith a note of my intentions and Mom’s diagnosis.

I had already transferred Mom’s medical records and believed Dr. Smith would glance over those prior to our appointment.

Fortunately, Mom was having a good day when we arrived for the appointment. Currently we were at the stage of good days, bad days, and a few catastrophic days, so I felt fortunate this would be a “good day” and Mom would be on her best behavior despite the protest I’d had to overcome to get her here.

When Dr. Smith entered the room, Mom stepped forward, offered her hand and introduced herself without waiting for me. In an almost flirtatious manner she answered Dr. Smith’s questions and kept a conversation running for several minutes.

She spoke brightly about her history over the last 82 years, “she had never been hospitalized, she had never had any kind of surgery, there had been NO heart disease, cancer or Alzheimer’s in her family, she was extremely healthy, and extremely feisty for her age.”

She asked about his life and they were both surprised to learn that they had many family and acquaintances shared in common. Dr. Smith spoke of an “out of state” relative and learned that Mom not only knew his relative but had carried on a mail correspondence with that person for many years.

Listening over my shoulder I was more than pleased. I kept my head down and continued to fill in the blanks of Mom’s “Correct” medical history on the form the nurse had given me.

I could tell by the chit-chat behind me that Dr. Smith was impressed with my mother.

Considering Mom’s stage of Alzheimer’s, her vocabulary was fantastic and recollection of events even better. I had rarely met another Alzheimer’s patient who spoke as well as Mom while in the later stages of this disease.

I hoped Dr. Smith was keeping mental notes because I’m thinking all this chatter will be crucial for his assessment later.

Finally, Dr. Smith turns his back to my Mom and speaks to me, “She’s a delight. You know–“ he lowers his voice so only I can hear, “some of these doctors make mistakes. It’s easy to slap a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s on someone who’s older and just happened to have a slip of memory on a single day.”

He took my hand in his and patted it. “Your mom is fine. I wouldn’t worry about any Alzheimer’s, either. Her memory is just fine,” he assured me.

My jaw dropped! I was speechless.

Dr. Smith had just implied that mom’s physician had made a mistake–or intentionally given her a false diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. I was astounded. My mother had totally fooled him with 10 minutes of gibberish that didn’t contain a single word of truth.

I handed Dr. Smith the Correct record of Mom’s Medical History that I had filled in while Mom spun her Fairy-tale Medical History to the doctor. When he lifted his eyes from Mom’s Real Medical History —his jaw dropped.

My Mother’s Medical History included:

Hospitalization for removal of Gallbladder
Hospitalization for Hysterectomy
Hospitalization for Breast Cancer/Mastectomy
Hospitalized for 2 childbirths/I was born in my grandmother’s house
Her sister died from Heart Disease
Her mother and brother died from Alzheimer’s

My mother had no memory of any of these things. And was totally certain she had spoke the truth to Dr. Smith. When a person with Alzheimer’s can no longer remember a past event, they invent a new one.

Mom had never met, nor was she familiar with any of the people connected with Dr. Smith and his family, including his “out of state” relative that Mom had claimed mail correspondence with for decades. She was only agreeing with him. When she saw the approval in his eye–she made up more stories. Much like a child, she wanted to be right, she wanted to be normal, she wanted to pretend that she could remember.

As you can see from my story, not all doctors are wise to the abilities of the person who has Alzheimer’s to invent or change history. Doctors know the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, they can give the tests for Alzheimer’s and they can diagnose Alzheimers.

But you must live with a person with Alzheimer’s to really know what they do and how they behave. Until you’ve lived with someone who has Alzheimer’s, been a caregiver for that person, and loved that person, you have no idea what it is like to be someone with Alzheiemr’s, nor how easy they can fool you.

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Busy In the Garden: A Share-Time Picture Book for Reminiscing ‘s disease, Dementia and Memory Loss)Gone Fishing: A Share-Time Picture Book for Reminiscing Five Minute Memories: Heart Warming Stories to Comfort and Connect Cupcakes and Tea Parties: A Share-Time Picture Book Did She Dance? (Tribute to the Lost Memories of Those with Alzheimers)

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Memory-Loss can Stop the Internal Clock

11/0317 Comments

The Internal Clock

When we can’t remember what happened in the past, we lose a “sense of time” or any expectation for the future. Even if the future is only a few minutes away.

A “sense of time” is formed by multiple memories which create an “internal clock“ that tells us when it’s time to get up, go to work, have lunch or go to bed. We do all these things because we’ve formed a memory in our “internal clock.”

Most of us take our “inner clock” for granted, yet our daily schedule is regulated almost entirely by a “sense of time” created by memories.

We know what day it is because we know what happened yesterday. We know what time it is because we just woke up and know we’ll be leaving for work soon. When someone with Alzheimer’s or Dementia is unable to remember yesterday, or last night, or 5 minutes ago, he doesn’t know what day it is. And, he will not have a “sense of time” to tell him what will happen a few moments from now or hours from now.

When you leave a person with Alzheimer’s or Dementia alone for an hour, they may believe you’ve been gone for days, weeks or even months because they don’t remember an hour ago, or a week ago or a month ago. Short-term memories from a recent past must be retained to have a “sense of timing” for what will happen next in the future.

When my Mom was in the nursing home, I visited her daily. Yet, Mom would complain that she hadn’t seen me in a year. Because the last time she remembered seeing me was the year before, her “sense of time” told her I hadn’t been there since that visit.

She had no memory of the daily visits since that time a year ago. All of her recent memory was gone, destroyed by Alzheimer’s. Since Alzheimer’s prevented the recording of new memories, Mom could only remember the visit from the previous year. Her “sense of time” was skewered. Her “internal clock” no longer working properly.

Missing short-term memories not only causes “loss of time” and the inability to read the hands on a clock, but also creates havoc with any sort of scheduling. Without knowing that you had breakfast a few hours ago, you will not know when it is time for lunch. If you don’t remember that you just woke up from a night’s sleep, you won’t know it’s time to take your medication, or shower, or brush your teeth, or get dressed.

All scheduling is affected by a “sense of time;” when to eat, when to sleep, when to wake up. Losing a “sense of time” causes great confusion and frustration for the person with Alzheimer’s or Dementia and fosters some of their odd behavior seen by the caregiver.

As the holidays near, I’m reminded of the last holiday season before my Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The entire family was confounded by her odd, and seemingly rude, behavior on that special Holiday weekend. In hindsight, Mom’s “sense of time” was gone then, even before her diagnosis of Alzheimer’s several months later.

On that holiday, I was up early for the long drive to get Mom and bring her back to our house for the weekend. There would be grown Children, Grand-Children and Great-Grand-Children. The entire family was overjoyed that we’d all be together for this holiday, four generations. I had my digital camera ready to take photos and document this holiday with four generations of our family in-tact.

The first surprise came when I arrived at Mom’s house. She was in her gown and pretended no knowledge of a holiday weekend at all. I was slightly furious as I packed her bag while Mom showered and got dressed.

Then I drove back to my house feeling hurt that she could have forgotten our planned celebration. Then, less than an hour after our arrival, while I was still trying to schedule baking times for cakes, pies, dressing and dinner rolls, Mom entered the kitchen and whispered in my ear.

“Can you take me home now?” “What?” I frowned, still tasting the bitterness I’d felt earlier because she hadn’t showered, dressed or packed for her visit to our home when she knew I’d be arriving early.

“What do you mean? Did you forget something?” I could only assume that she’d forgotten something and wanted me to make another trip across town to her house. She was shaking her head.

“No. I didn’t forget anything. I want you to take me home?”

“Mom,” I put my arm around her. “You’re staying here for the weekend. Remember? All the kids are here…the grand-kids…”

She looked puzzled. “Oh no, I can’t stay for the whole weekend. I’ve already been here too long. I want to go home now. I want you to take me home right now.” She began tugging my arm as she headed for the door.

“Mom…” I tried to pull away. “You just got here. You haven’t been here an hour yet.”

“Oh come on–” she gave me a hard jerk and headed to the door. “I’ve been here all day, I’m tired, I can’t leave my place empty, someone might break-in. I’m going home.”

Suddenly my gentle, little Mom was gruff and demanding. I didn’t know what else to do but obey. My husband gave my Mom a ride home and I cried myself to sleep that night because she had missed all the planned festivities.

I didn’t know my Mom had Alzheimer’s yet. I hadn’t been forced to make any decisions for my Adult parent yet. I hadn’t learned to question my Mom’s behavior or disagree with her. I hadn’t learned to tell her, “No.” As I look back now, I can see that Mom had already lost her “sense of time” and yet, it would be many months before she was diagnosed. So that leaves me wishing I’d been kinder, or more understanding, or more aware.

So know the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and Dementia. Educate yourself about what happens as it progresses and be prepared to cope with behaviors that your loved one has never shown before. And most of all, Learn to love them anyway because they have no knowledge or understanding of the unconscious changes that are happening to them.

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Best Alzheimer’s Digital Clock keeps time for those with Alzheimer’s

08/2128 Comments

Best Alzheimer’s Digital Clock Keeps Time for those with Dementia

An Alzheimer’s Digital Clock Keeps Time for those with dementia.

Before my Mom’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis she lived alone and called me first thing every morning to ask the day and the time.

Actually, she often called 5 or 6 times in the morning to learn the day, date or time. I thought she was lonely and needed to hear my voice to feel better.

After awhile, it became a real nuisance. I loved my mother dearly but really… I knew mom had a big, colorful Cukoo Clock that crowed way too loudly every hour 24 times a day.

Now, that was a nuisance! But it announced the time–Loud and Clear. I couldn’t imagine why it didn’t catch her attention for day, date and time.

Now, as I look back, I can hardly believe that I was so annoyed that Mom would not take her medication on time. In hindsight, if she couldn’t remember what day it was or what year it was or never knew what time it was, how could she possibly remember whether she’d taken her pills on time?

The person with Alzheimer’s not only forgets to look at the Calendar, but often forgets how to read a calendar or the round face on a clock with hands.

Folks with Alzheimer’s dementia lose their “sense of time” in general and the hands on a clock are totally useless. A digital clock, referred to as the Alzheimer’s Clock, tells them the time in a simple way. There is no determining the time yourself, like with hands on the face of a clock. A digital clock is a simple Numbered Clock. Or, Alzheimer’s Clock (we often call it.)

Mom would suppose that the 6th day of the month on the calendar referred to the 6th month of the year. If it was the 10th of January, Mom would point to the 10 on the calendar and ask, “So it’s October now?” Numbers, Dates, Calendars all caused colossal confusion for Mom. A standard calendar became useless.

It was easier for Mom to call and ask the day, date and time every morning! than to struggle with numbers circling around on the wall.

The problem with that solution was that Mom would quickly forget she had called— then call again and again and again throughout the morning. The bigger problem was that Mom was too confused and embarrassed by the situation to tell me that she could no longer read a calendar or clock or watch.

Once I understood that she could no longer use a calendar or read the hands on a clock, all of our confusing conversations about day, date and time finally made sense. Regrettably, this didn’t occur until Mom finally came to live with us. Mom gets a Watch that can Really Tell Time!

Since some of you have the same issue with your loved one, I’ve had many requests for digital calendars and clocks and watches without hands, so your loved one can keep time!

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