Patricia

Patricia is a middle-aged woman who takes care of her father who has been through a stroke, heart attack and is suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Her father is receiving full-time formal care and she provides care on a part-time basis (20 hours/week).

Needs Current Approaches used by Patricia Alternate suggestions What could be created?
1. Patricia needs help making sure her father takes all of his pills during the day since he has a faulty memory. She sets an alarm for him, but it is too high pitched and he cannot hear it.
2. She wants to find a way to make it easier for her father to swallow food and take medication. Parkinson’s spoon – helps maintain stability with tremors, but it is expensive and her father’s tremors are not that bad.
3. She wants to find a way to make it easier for her father to get dressed. Magnetized shirts which look professional and are easy to dress someone in.
4. She worries about her father’s decision making/planning since it is sometimes a safety hazard e.g. taking off his pants before going to the washroom which he then trips over. Verbal cuing to remind him to take his clothes off once he is in the washroom.
5. She needs help with finding well-paved sidewalks.  
6. She needs help organizing her father’s appointments. She bought a calendar to write down all his appointments, but he forgets to look at it.
7. She needs to find better ways to learn about newer technologies and how to use them.  
8. She has trouble with speaking to her father on the phone, because of the volume of his voice as well as his forgetfulness/rambling. She uses an app called ‘speak up Parkinson’s’ where the patient speaks into the app and it tells him/her whether they’re speaking at a good speaking volume or not.