Pilar is a 60 year-old woman who takes care of her husband who was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease 20 years ago. It became more challenging to look after him about 3 years ago when the disease began to progress. Pilar works 44-45 hours a week at another job, and spends another 10-15 hours commuting, so she has hired a caregiver for most days.
Needs | Current Approaches Used by Pilar | Alternate Suggestions | What Could Be Created? |
1. Pilar needs help aiding her husband with getting around safely. He is using an electrical wheelchair, but is starting to make bad judgements. | Pilar tells him not to do certain things anymore.
Her husband uses a manual chair or Pilar puts the electric chair on manual and she pushes him. |
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2. Pilar needs help dealing with the psychological aspect of taking care of her husband- he used to be her husband, but now he is her patient. She would rather have experts, nurses, and care aids take care of her husband. | Pilar has a demanding job outside of taking care of her husband, so that she does not have to be by his side taking care of him 24/7. | ||
3. Pilar needs help advocating for increased flexibility in the bureaucratic system. Different care aids show up every time, and she does not like this. | She is on the wait list to participate in a corporation where she can hire care aids, have more control over payroll, what the care aids do, and consistency. | ||
4. Pilar needs help watching her husband eat – home care won’t sit and watch the older adult eat. They leave during mealtime, which concerns Pilar because her husband could choke. | Her husband increased his water intake, and drinks Boost drinks with thicker consistency. He has knowledge about what he should not eat to prevent choking. | ||
5. Pilar needs help finding devices for teeth flossing/oral care. She would prefer if home care helped but they won’t do it. | |||
6. Pilar needs help teaching her husband to use the cell phone. He finds it hard to understand how to operate a phone. | She sends him a text or a message on Facebook to remind him to hang up the phone, because he does not know to.
Pilar is on speed dial on his phone. He knows how to use the phone to buzz in care workers. |
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7. Pilar needs help finding a fun daycare program for older adults where her husband could go twice a week – to help relieve caregiver burden. | Caregiver comes in when Pilar is at work, but it’s still not the same. |