Alzheimer’s Disease is on my mind today!
Author: Mary Ellen Mullholand, President – Eperture Today, at a business meeting a colleague seemed sad and not engaged in the discussion at hand. I asked him “what is the problem?” He responded “I made a call to my first business mentor and colleague of 35 years last evening and at age 72, he has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease! The worst part of the call was it took me 5-10 minutes to help him remember who I was!”
How many of us over 65 years old have seen our family members, friends and work associates fall into this category? Have you asked yourself, “I am 70 years old, is this going to happen to me?” An estimated 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and one in ten people age 65 show symptoms of Alzheimer’s. As Alzheimer’s disease progresses so does the level of dependency on others. Higher levels of dependence in people with Alzheimer’s Disease are associated with significantly increased costs of informal care as the disease progresses. As the older adult with Alzheimer’s loses the ability to make sound decisions, external interventions become increasingly important, leaving families to fill the gap, mainly through increased supervision and direct care.Today, 41 percent of care support provided to older adults with Alzheimer’s disease is provided by family members, friends or other unpaid informal and often untrained caregivers.
Is there something the individual can go to prepare if this disease is in your future? Working on the design and introduction of RememberStuff™ since 2016 has me convinced that the aging American public needs to take seriously and with urgency that the numbers of persons experiencing Alzheimer’s is rapidly increasing but no one can predict who will experience the devastation of dementia to one’s normal life. However, there are ways to organize your world to keep your memories and life’s details at your finger- tips for reference and provide a sense of security that you can safely manage daily decisions.
RememberStuff™ was designed to store the details of “your” daily living and the ability with the press of the screen to bring those large or small details to your review as you need them. You can store your financial details, your services resources details such as insurance, banking, investment, electric/gas, water, doctor and dentist etc. and your medical info on doctor, dentist, current and past medications, immunizations and medical history. The list of details is endless and up to you to build those details to follow and support your day. The Calendar allows you to record important dates such as anniversary and birthdays with daily appointments along with details of how to get to the appointments and alerts to take current medications at times prescribed by your physician. The calendar can keep you in the real time of today’s happenings, so you do not miss an important “to-do”.
An important link to memory is the ability to create and share video messaging with family and friends. The address book link allows you to see photos of family members and then automatically enters the email address to the video message when that photo is selected. This ability to record and replay messages is the link to family 24/7 even if that family is many miles away or just across town. RememberStuff™ is a collection of your life’s details available at your finger-tips to assist you stay current and engaged in the world around you. RememberStuff™ can help you remember even if the day is blurry. By Mary Ellen Mullholand, President Eperture LLC
