Dementia

Various assistive products can support your memory when it fails.

Schedules or timetables can give you an overview of your everyday life and the activities you want to achieve during the day. The schedules can be made out with text, images, or symbols, whichever works best for you. There are special tools, e.g. letter and symbol sets, which are intended for creating the schedules.

There are also calendars with simple layouts, which can be of good assistance for you, either to remember appointments, or to remember what you did earlier in the week. They are available in both paper form and electronically, depending on your preferences.

• Calendars and timetables
• Assistive products for structuring periods, activities and personal goals
• Letter and symbol sets and boards

Read more in the guide Calendars and timetables.

If you take medicine, you can use a unit dose box, which helps you keep track of whether or not you have taken your medicine. Unit dose boxes are typically divided into compartments that correspond to the seven days of the week and different times of the day. In addition, you can get unit dose boxes with a reminder function, which notify you visually, tactilely or with a sound when it is time to take your medicine.

• Unit dose boxes
• Medication reminders

An object finder can be used to find your keys or other small items when you cannot remember where you put them. Typically, it makes a sound that you can follow until the object is found again.

• Object finders

Memory loss can imply, for instance, that you will have difficulty remembering events and perhaps also names and faces. There are various products for remembrance, for instance talking photo albums, where you or someone else can record names for your photos of family members, stories about vacations, or places you have lived, etc. It can also be useful to have some recognizable objects that you and your nearest can use to get a conversation started.

• Remembrance systems

There are assistive products that can stimulate memory, evoke emotions or have a calming effect, for instance dolls or stuffed toy animals with interactive functions, sounds, or a soft body. There are also memory games, puzzles, memory boxes, etc.

• Assistive products for cognitive therapy
• Assistive products for memory training

Dementia can in some cases make you see dark surfaces as holes, or you may have difficulty seeing glass doors. Contrasts can help you see things that you might not otherwise notice. Contrast can be created, for instance, by placing a dark dinner mat under a white plate, or by giving light switches on the wall a strong colour so that they differ from the colour of the wall.

In addition, you can use stickers and other types of marking to put on e.g. cupboards, doors or the like. You can use the marking to show, for instance, what is inside the cupboard, or to show what belongs together, for instance which button turns on which hotplate.

On the other hand, it may in some cases be relevant to camouflage and thus hide objects or functions, for instance by hanging a neutral curtain in front of a door that is not to be used.

• Materials and tools for labeling
• Letter and symbol sets and boards

Assistive products for sensory stimulation can have a calming effect. There are many different types that can stimulate the body, either with a consistent load or with alternating stimuli, e.g. with balls, sound, or vibration. The stimulation can give you a more distinct sense of your body and can have a calming effect. There are, for instance, chairs for sensory stimulation, where you sit in the chair and are enveloped in weighted pillows across the body, or weighted pillows that you can have on your lap.

• Assistive products for training in sensory integration

Read about sensory perception and assistive products in the guide Assistive products for sensory stimulating.

Assistive products for emergency call can be useful if you need to call for help when you are alone. There are different types of emergency call – some you have to activate yourself by pressing a button, while others are activated automatically. Assistive products for emergency call typically send a message to a call centre, to a staff person or to relatives.

Emergency call systems are available both with and without two-way communication. In the case of emergency call systems without two-way communication, a message is merely sent, e.g. to a call centre, to relatives or to a staff person. With emergency call systems with two-way communication, you can talk to the staff person, a call centre or your relatives and tell them what has happened.

• Emergency alarm systems without two-way communication
• Emergency alarm systems with two-way communication

To activate the emergency call system, there are both body-worn and fixed mounted transmitters that you have to active yourself. The body-worn transmitters are, for instance, worn around the neck or as a bracelet, while the fixed mounted ones can be mounted, e.g. on the wall in the bathroom and be activated by pulling a cord.

• Mobile and body-worn manual emergency calls
• Fixed manual emergency calls

There may also be situations where you are not able to activate the emergency call yourself. You might have fallen or you are otherwise in danger. The body-worn automatic emergency call sits on your body and can be activated in the event of a fall or if you leave a designated area. Non-body-worn emergency calls are, e.g., mats or motion sensors that detect if you get out of bed, fall or move around in the room.

• Body-worn automatic emergency calls
• Non-body-worn automatic emergency calls

When using automatic emergency calls, a technology is applied that gives others information about your condition. If you have a progressive mental impairment such as dementia, the automatic emergency call can legally be used without falling under the regulations on the use of force in the Danish Service Act.

Read more about the regulations on the use of force and on automatic emergency calls in the special catalogue Reassuring welfare technology.

If you sometimes go out and can’t find your way back home or can’t remember where you were going, it can be useful to have a person locator on you so that staff or relatives can find you. There is typically a GPS in the device, which is activated if, for instance, you press an emergency call button, leave a designated area or if you are reported missing. The device can be designed, for instance, as a watch, a necklace, or be a transmitter that can be placed in a shoe sole, in a pocket or attached to a belt.

• Person locators

You can read about pagers and person locators in the guide Localisation and tracking systems.

When using person locators, a technology is applied where others can track you. If you have a progressive mental impairment such as dementia, a person locator can be used without falling under the regulations on the use of force in the Danish Service Act.

Read more about the regulations on the use of force and on person locators in the special catalogue Reassuring welfare technology.

You can create greater confidence around you by installing safety measures in the home.

It can be an advantage to install alarms that detect, e.g., smoke, gas or flooding. Some alarms forward the message to an attached call centre, a staff person, so that they are notified as quickly as possible.

• Environmental emergency alarm systems

There are also assistive products that cut off the power after a while or when there is high heat generation, so that you can avoid an accident. It could be, e.g., the stove or a lamp that switches off automatically when it has been on for a long time. You can also have a sprinkler system installed, which turns on in the event of a fire.

• Assistive products for the home to prevent burns and accidental fires

If you are a smoker, you can use fire-resistant assistive products that prevent the cigarette from starting a fire. It can be, e.g., a fire-resistant apron or carpet.

• Aprons and blankets for smokers
• Fire-resistant floor coverings
• Fire retardant impregnation materials

Perhaps you sometimes find it difficult to contain yourself. This may be due to various things, for instance a disorder or you forgetting to go to the toilet in time. There is a wide range of assistive products that you can use for incontinence, including diapers, alarms, pads, etc.

• Assistive products for absorbing urine and faeces
• Assistive products to prevent or alert on involuntary urine or faeces leakage
• Urine diverters
• Assistive products for collecting urine and faeces

You can read about assistive products for incontinence in the guide Diapers for adults.

Dementia can cause problems with balance and body control, which can be a challenge when you are in the bath and the floor becomes slippery. Here it can be an advantage to put a non-slip surface in the shower cabinet or bathtub. You can also use grab bars fixed to the wall to hold on to so that you can stand up safely.

• Non-slip bath mats, non-slip shower mats and non-slip tapes
• Grab bars

Read more in the guide Grab bars, handrails and toilet supports.

If you need to sit down while bathing, you can use shower chairs in the shower cabinet or bathtub boards and bathtub seats in the bathtub.

• Shower chairs
• Bathtub boards
• Bathtub seats

Read more in the guide Bath stools, bath chairs and shower seats.

There are many options for activities and experiences despite the challenges caused by dementia. Some activities may have to be organized in an alternative way than before, and your relatives might have to help you with this.

You or your relatives can, for instance, make sure that the activities that you enjoy are laid out visibly, e.g. the knitting, the magazines, the radio, etc. You might also have to make small changes to the ways you have done things in the past, for instance by listening to audiobooks rather than reading.

There are different options for games developed for people with dementia, e.g. a picture lottery or a puzzle with recognizable motives from the old days or games with a focus on encouraging reminiscence and conversation. Music is easily recognizable and can in many instances be used to create a comforting sentiment both alone and together with others.

• Games

If you can no longer cycle on your own, there are twin bikes where you and a companion sit next to each other and cycle together.

• Twin cycles