“What a great idea,” I thought, as I read Liz’s post about the Columba bracelet for monitoring Alzheimer’s patients so caregivers know when they wander off.
However, will they keep it on? Looking at the bracelet, it appears to be quite sturdy and secure. So maybe it is one Alzheimer’s patients can’t remove without assistance.
When they reach a certain stage, Alzheimer’s patients often don’t want to wear jewelry, eye glasses, dentures…items they didn’t use at the stage of life they think they’re in at present. At a particular point, my mom no longer wanted to keep her wedding ring on. She also kept taking her glasses off and her dentures out. She was living at an earlier stage in her life.
Also, these items may have irritated her skin. When she kept removing her dentures, we had the visiting dentist (at the nursing home) examine her. He saw nothing that indicated the dentures were irritating her gums. However, she probably was living at age when she had her own teeth, so had no idea why we wanted her to use these false teeth.
Patients who wear hearing aids often insist on removing them as well. They don’t realize what they’re for. These are situations to consider when considering whether to use items that are additions to a person’s normal use.
A book to consider when trying to figure out how an Alzheimer’s patient reacts to various situations and how you, a caregiver, can deal with them.
Hi Liz,
I think it depends on the stage of Alzheimer’s the patient is in. When they can no longer understand why they’re wearing or using something foreign to them, they’re likely to try to discard it. A patient who understands the bracelet would likely seem more secure if they knew someone could find them if they got lost. Then it depends if they remember to use it! Some patients, even without Alzheimer’s, forget to put on medical alert bracelets and necklaces. Then when they fall, etc., the item is in another room. But all this shouldn’t deter researchers from developing devices to help. There’s always someone (a number of someones!) who will be saved.
Hi Mary Emma, interesting post about patients not wanting to wear jewellery, dentures etc. So I guess there is a down side to the idea of a GPS bracelet. As far as I know, the bracelet has been a success in Spain and France…will have to look into it more.
Liz