LIVING WELL WITH DEMENTIA SCENARIO
Meet Edie T. He is a married, 63-year-old accountant who took an early retirement as he struggles with middle stage dementia
Edie has worked with his care coordinator to remain independent for as long as possible. His Adapt to Reable plan contains goals for living well with dementia at home, and are broken down into tasks:
-
Self measuring 'what is working'
-
Nutrition
-
Medication
-
Fitness
-
Education
-
Social Activities
He is empowered with smart care solutions to assist him in his core ageing needs; Health, Safety, Connectivity and Learning.
One of Edie's solutions is a voice assistant that assists him with his daily tasks and supports his memory:
-
7:00 am - Edie is reminded "to have a shower". His whole live he showered before going to work. The solution is set to maintain his routine task.
-
7:30 am - Edie is reminded "to have breakfast and a drink".
-
8 am - Edie is asked "to confirm if he showered & is wearing his (health) watch" and his answer will be recorded. Regardless of his answer (yes or no), the next shower reminder, based on the rule, will only be tomorrow. Although he said "yes", he forgot to wear his Health watch and his exercise activity will not be properly registered for today.
-
9am - Part of Edie's routine is to ask "what his task for today are?" To ensure he maintains a healthy life style she summarises:
-
"Please measure your weight?" His smart scale records 82kg, perfectly within his weight goal. The Voice assistant receives the recorded data and marks the measurement task as completed. If Edie measures three times in one week above his target weight, his worried Daughter would receive, based on a personalised rule, an sms alert.
-
"Please take your morning medication?" Edie knows how to handle his Baxter strips that are organised day-by-day. However, he forgets to confirm the completion of this task.
-
"Your daily exercise for today is a 2KM walk, equivalent to 3000 steps".
-
-
10 am - The fridge hasn't been opened this morning. This could mean that Edie hasn't used milk/yoghurt for his breakfast cereal, therefor Edie is triggered to confirm "if he had breakfast (yes/no)?". It is going to be a warm day today, so he is also suggested "to have another glass of water".
-
11:15 am - It is 28 degrees in the house and the CO2 levels are above 1000. Edie is reminded that "it is warm in the house and that it might be a healthy idea to open a door or window for some fresh air".
"Do you like to take your daily health assessment now?"
Trigger too long inactive
His health watch would normally confirm the completion of the task after achieving 2km distance.
Even though Edie exercised in the afternoon his care plan thinks he hasn't walked, and suggest if Edie wants to watch the video 'why walking his healthy for you' again.
When his wife Marci comes home from work she sees the incomplete tasks and:
-
verifies if the medication has been taken or not. "This was the second time in 3 weeks he forgot to confirm that he completed the task in the app": she thought, "maybe we should create a voice reminder 15 minutes after the medication task that Edie needs to confirm..."
-
seeks to understand why she got reported that Edie is falling behind with his fitness tasks, and hence asks Edie if he enjoyed his walk today? Edie explains that it was a bit wet this morning so he went in the afternoon. She is happy to hear that he went out but kindly explains to him that he should be putting on his health watch after the shower, or just shower with it.
-
ENGAGE
DRIVES PATIENT ENGAGEMENT
Dorothy keeps track of all her insights, tasks and health data through her ENGAGE account, which helps her stay motivated and on track with her health goals.
ENGAGE also provides her with interesting content about exercise, tips, and recipes. Best of all, her information is shared with her care circle, her care coordinator, and her alerts assessed by a 24-hour nurse outreach desk. She can request at any time a call-back and discuss her questions or concerns with a remote nurse through a video-call.
When she does not adhere to her care plan she is reminded by smart voice suggestions to influence a change in her behaviour like; to have breakfast if the fridge door has not been opened, or to go for a walk after sitting still too long in the living room.
ENGAGE
DRIVES PATIENT ENGAGEMENT
HEALTH
WITH A LITTLE HELP OF THE TEAM
Initially the remote patient management team was responsible for providing Dorothy with an education session and home meeting. This process ensured she had a clear understanding of their role in achieving her health goals as set out in her care plan. After a month, a technical savvy carer visited Dorothy in their home to discuss such things as when they should call a doctor and address any questions or concerns. Dorothy says the health care technician had time to listen to her concerns, answer her questions, take her temperature, blood pressure and other vitals.
Now engaged with her own treatment, Dorothy no longer needs to make frequent trips to her doctor for checkups as she has gone from weekly to bi-monthly visits. Her quality of care has improved, she feels happy and healthy, and costs have been reduced for both payer and provider.