Pandora is a 55 year-old who takes care of her father who has a type of dementia associated with Parkinson’s. Her father has both physical and cognitive symptoms associated with the condition. Her father also experiences elaborate delusions, hallucinations and confusion due to his condition. Pandora is also care giving for her mother, who has short-term memory loss, and is unable to do chores such as cleaning and laundry. She is working on moving her father to a personal care home, and moving her mother to an assisted living situation.
Needs | Current Approaches used by Pandora | Alternate Suggestions | What Could Be Created? |
1. Pandora needs to keep reminding her father to use his assistive devices. He has a cane, walker and wheelchair, but he mainly uses the wheelchair now because of the progression of his disease. | She has tried placing the assistive devices beside her father, but he won’t use them unless reminded with verbal cues, which is exhausting. | ||
2. Pandora needs help navigating her father’s wheelchair in their small home. Pandora wishes that smaller wheelchairs for in home use were easily accessible, readily available and delivered right away. | Realizes they may have to persist in asking regional health authority for a way to provide one or have to go and rent one. | ||
3. Pandora needs assistance keeping her father steady when he’s walking around. They have used walkers but he has trouble keeping them close to the body and his balance is shaky, making it dangerous to use. | Pandora sold the walker and bought another with 4 feet instead of wheels but wishes they bought one with little skis at the bottom. | ||
4. Pandora needs help accessing suggestions for transfers and for wheelchairs to help with her father’s shaky balance. | In hindsight Pandora thinks they should have asked the OT more questions upon receiving devices. | ||
5. Pandora needs help assisting her father while undressing him for toileting due to the small space and big wheelchair. They transfer him 3-4 times before he actually needs to go to the washroom due to his condition. | Has a transfer belt from couch to wheelchair, but it doesn’t help much. | ||
6. Pandora needs help coping with the negative feelings her dad feels because of needing his own daughter to clean him up after toileting. |
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7. Pandora needs help finding a new transfer belt for her father. Her father has one but it is hard on his skin and uncomfortable under the arms. | |||
8. Pandora needs help finding a way to widen doorways in house. | She has thought about government grants. | ||
9. Pandora needs help finding a way to help her father get upstairs with a wheelchair. | Borrowed a ramp from the neighbours and put it over the stairs, but it’s too steep which is not ideal. | ||
10. Pandora needs a counselling service at no charge, because she does a lot of caregiving for her parents. | |||
11. Pandora needs help accessing more caregiver support/resources in general. | Can access some through Alzheimer’s society but wishes these were available through the regular health care system | ||
12. Pandora needs help as she is struggling with the poor communication between coordinators and workers in the home care system. Pandora says that it is especially difficult if you want to change an appointment time, and accessing overnight care is difficult. | Brothers helped out for 2 weeks by using a baby monitor | ||
13. Pandora is suggesting that tax credits should be bigger because she’s self-employed and care-giving, and she can’t keep working. | Receives primary caregiver’s tax credit – $1200/yr; suggests a ‘granny nanny’ | ||
14. Pandora needs help creating a safe environment for her parents to live together, but it is becoming difficult with their conditions. | She is working on moving her mom to an assisted living location and her dad to a personal care home. |