New “smart home” helps people with dementia
02/02/2007
Everyone knows that most accidents happen in the home. And, sadly, for people with dementia, the appliances that they have used safely for most of their lives can become accidents waiting to happen – restricting their independence and hastening the day when they have to go into care.
But now a revolutionary new home points an exciting way forward. Showcased at Hillside Court in Bristol, a very sheltered housing scheme, the so-called “smart home” technology has been developed over several years in consultation with people with dementia and their carers.
Special sensors that monitor movement and can “talk” to devices such as the cooker, taps and light switches, may hold the key to give people with dementia and other serious long-term health conditions greater independence. The pioneering technology, developed by the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering (BIME), has been designed to help people readjust to living on their own after a stay in hospital, and aims to reduce the risk of users being readmitted to hospital or going into long term care.
The sensors respond to the behaviour of the resident by monitoring movement within the home, and can react to many different situations - often just using simple voice prompts. For example, if the occupant was detected opening the front door at inappropriate times they would be given a prompt to let them know the time and encourage them to go back to bed. Similarly, if the occupant got out of bed at night, the bedroom lights would be gently faded up.
Control and independence
The system not only provides a very quick response, giving residents a feeling of greater control and independence as it doesn't rely on people coming in from outside to resolve simple problems, but the voice “prompts” can be recorded by a family member, which has proven to be more effective.
Professor Roger Orpwood, Director of BIME, said: “The really smart thing about the wireless technology we have used in this flat is that we can take the elements that clients find particularly useful in the smart home and install them in their own home. The whole installation is quite unique because it is designed to empower the resident rather than relying on outside help to deal with problems. The idea is that residents will stay in the smart home for a short period of around three months, before returning to their own home.”
The Hillside Court flat has been set up as a two year pilot to assess how the technology helps give people more independence and control, reducing the risk of users being readmitted to hospital or going into long term care. Individual components of the system have been tested by people with dementia, but the complete installation has previously only been used at one other property - in Lewisham, south London.
David Self, Dementia Services Advisor at Dementia Voice, said: “The work we have already done in Lewisham has shown that this technology can improve independence and quality of life for people with dementia and reduce anxieties for relatives, without increasing the burden on care staff. We hope this latest project will take things a step further with the opportunity to install the successful 'smart' elements of the flat in people's own homes.”
What can the technology do?
If the occupant:
* was detected opening the main door at inappropriate times they would be given a prompt to let them know the time and encourage them to go back to bed. If they continued to go out, care staff would be alerted.
* got out of bed at night, the bedroom lights would be gently faded up.
* got back into bed and left the lights on, the house would wait a couple of minutes and then fade the lights off. The user could turn the lights on and off themselves at any point.
* moved around the house when it was dark, appropriate room lights would be turned on to help orientate them and prevent falls.
* was detected moving around a lot at night, they would be prompted to encourage them to go back to bed. If they continued to behave restlessly care staff would be alerted.
And ...
* If taps were accidentally left on they would be turned off.
* If the cooker was left on the occupant would be prompted to turn it off. This would be done twice but if they didn't respond, or if smoke was detected near the cooker, it would be turned off and care staff alerted.
* Whilst the cooker hot plates were still hot, even if the cooker had been turned off, a small warning sign would be illuminated saying 'Cooker Hot'.
Anyone interested in finding out more about this innovative technology should visit the link below or call: 01225 824 103. At the time of writing, some of the “sensory” equipment is available buy privately.