חברה אמריקנית עוזרת לחולי אלצהיימר לשמר את הזיכרונות שלהם

Audevie Memory Banks is a company dedicated to helping people with Alzheimer's preserve their memories. It has just won the prestigious Mott's Award for Alzheimer's Care. NTD's Daniel Monaghan spoke with founder Kristen Nelson about the company's unique origins as well as its innovative approach to dementia care. Like many great discoveries, Audevie Memory Banks came about by chance. A caring daughter looking after a mom with Alzheimer's became fixated on the stories her mom told over and over again about her childhood. Company founder Kristen Nelson decided to record the stories as a way to preserve them for herself and her children. She paired the stories with photos, put them on a website and thought that would be the end of it. But I happened to play it back for her and that was the epiphany. You see for an individual who's otherwise quite confused day in and day out and can't follow conversations, listening to her voice telling her memories was like, she was completely captivated and she acts out the stories in the same way every time and she laughs and finishes her sentences and you can see it's really comforting as I say in an otherwise confusing day. Nelson realized the power of reminiscing for those with Alzheimer's being able to hear and relive their own stories offers comfort and relief from daily confusion. The thing with Alzheimer's is it's not the memory loss per se that's so challenging for the individual and for the caregiver. It's actually this constellation of symptoms, the anxiety, confusion, irritability, all of these symptoms that accompany almost all individuals with dementia. That's what makes it so hard and reminiscing has been shown to help calm those symptoms. Audible memory banks grew from this discovery. Nelson has been working to expand reminiscence therapy to help people both with and without dementia. Research has shown that it can lower stress, boost mood and even improve cognitive skills in individuals with dementia. It actually improves our health. It lowers our heart rate. It lowers our blood pressure. For individuals with dementia, it improves their communication and cognition skills and their ability to complete activities of daily living. We got $250. I was in California and they were leaving for the Pacific. A year ago, Audevie launched an app available in the Google or Apple store. The app prompts users to recall memories from their past like their childhood home or first car and allows them to upload photos along with the recordings. And because it's really optimized for individuals with dementia, a lot of the questions focus on their life long ago because those are the memories that are stickiest for individuals with dementia. Nelson says creating a memory bank is a gift that keeps on giving. Every time she watched her memory bank, it was like she'd never seen it. She'd be like, when did you do this? This is wonderful. So for the caregiver, it gives you this activity that you can give to the individual. Audevie is continuously evolving. The next version of the app, which integrates AI, is set to make memory banking even easier, providing a crucial support system for those experiencing memory loss. When we lose our vision, we get eyeglasses, we lose our hearing, we get a hearing aid, and we have this massive explosion of memory loss. And there's no similar crutch, something to help people through the decline. Audevie Memory Banks, a touching and innovative solution for both families affected by Alzheimer's and others. Daniel Monaghan, NTD News.