A recent NPR story (http://n.pr/1LCvaUp) pointed out caring for someone with dementia can be extremely burdensome on the caregiver. The story reviewed studies that are being to determine if technology can benefit both the caregiver and patient. Caring for someone with dementia can be a fulltime job for the caregiver. The American Alzheimer’s Association states that, “nearly 60 percent of Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers rate the emotional stress of care giving as high or very high; about 40 percent suffer from depression” (http://www.alz.org). As the size of the population over the age of 65 increases in the United States, they estimate that the number of those suffering from Alzheimer’s will increase to 7.1 million by 2025 and 13.8 million by the year 2050. Eperture hopes to ease that burden on those suffering from dementia and their caregivers through its Eperture RememberStuf™ line of products. In 2015 treatment of Alzheimer’s and other dementias is estimated to cost the nation $226 billion (http://www.alz.org/facts/overview.asp). Eperture will ease this burden by empowering RememberStuff™ product users and supporting their caregivers helping them remain independent if possible.
RememberStuff™ will not only have the capacity to pair with 3rd party health monitoring devices to provide assurance that things are “normal” and routine. As telemedicine becomes a bigger piece of the healthcare solution (http://nyti.ms/1KYUpTO) Eperture and RememberStuff™ products will be a piece of the solution. The RememberStuff™ products will prompt the user to follow the doctors care instructions or treatment plan. They will also allow easy communication between the patient, caregiver and doctors. As video conferencing and Skype messaging are becoming more common to use as reminders for follow up visits; RememberStuff™ products are prepared to be used as a convenience tool to allow users to attend doctor appointments from their home when things are going well.
Another huge asset of RememberStuff™ is its ability to provide social interaction through messaging loved ones. RememberStuff™ allows users to send and receive text and video messages from friends/family and providers who are approved contacts set up by the caregiver. The Alzheimer’s Association recognizes that remaining socially active helps maintain brain vitality. The calendar piece of RememberStuff™ product will also ensure that users don’t miss their scheduled appointments, scheduled social game events or other activities to provide social interaction. The RememberStuff™ products also provide the user mental stimulation through quizzes and access to other activities. Games and activities purchased outside Eperture can be added and accessed by the RememberStuff activites tool.
At Eperture we empower those suffering from dementia and their caregivers with our products. We’d love for you to contact us to find out how we can help and you can help us.
