Pamela is an older woman taking care of her husband, who has Parkinson’s disease. He exhibits problems with fine motor skills/dexterity. He is able to move around as long as he uses a walker, but constantly needs verbal cues and she is scared he might fall because he doesn’t use it properly. He has trouble eating without verbal cues to remind him to eat.
| Needs | Current Approaches Used by Pamela | Alternate Suggestions | What Could be Created? |
| 1. She needs to help her husband with getting dressed. His lack of dexterity and his jerky arm movements make this difficult. | Her husband avoids shirts with buttons. | ||
| 2. She wants her husband to use his walker more safely. He keeps it too far from his body and she is worried that he might fall. | Pamela provides verbal cues to stay closer to walker. | ||
| 3. Pamela is worried about her husband’s posture, especially when he is using the walker. | Pamela provides verbal cues to keep his posture straight. | ||
| 4. She is worried about her husband’s independence when it comes to transportation when she is unable to drive him. His jerky arm movements prevent him from driving and busses are infrequent. | |||
| 5. She wants to help her husband become more independent with medication, since he cannot take his medication out of blister packs and he doesn’t know when to take them. | She removes the medication from blister packs for her husband, she has an alarm on her phone, and an alarm on his watch to remind him to take his medications. | ||
| 6. She is worried that her husband is not eating enough. At times he doesn’t remember to eat or he doesn’t feel like eating. | She has to be present to remind him to eat or prepares his meals for him. | ||
| 7. She is struggling with her husband’s bowel care – she wants to find better ways of managing it (he takes laxatives daily and every 3 days needs a suppository). This routine takes a considerable amount of time out of their day. |
