Living with dementia can change the way a person navigates familiar places, communicates with others and manages everyday routines. Dementia safety technology can provide an additional layer of support, helping people remain connected to their families and carers while maintaining as much independence as possible.
For Dementia Action Week, we’re looking at six ways dementia safety technology can support people living with dementia and the people who care for them.
1. Geo-fencing can help without restricting independence
One of the challenges families may experience is worrying about a loved one becoming disoriented or moving beyond a familiar area.
Geo-fencing provides a way to create virtual boundaries around designated locations. With our watches, nominated contacts can receive an alert if the wearer moves outside a configured area.
Rather than physically restricting someone’s movement, geo-fencing can provide another layer of information to their support network, allowing them to respond when needed.
2. GPS location can help locate someone when support is needed
If someone becomes disoriented while away from home, GPS location technology can help nominated family members or carers locate their device.
The mCareWatch combines location technologies with the mCare Digital app and ConnectiveCare® platform, giving approved contacts access to location information when required.
Used alongside geo-fencing, this can provide an additional safety tool for people who remain active in their communities.
3. Auto-answer can make staying in contact simpler
For someone living with dementia, navigating a device to answer an incoming call may not always be easy.
The mCareWatch can be configured with an auto-answer function, so approved contacts can establish communication with the wearer without requiring them to navigate the watch screen.
It’s a small feature that can make staying connected simpler for both the wearer and their support network.
4. SOS support keeps assistance within reach
Having an SOS function directly on a wearable device provides another way for someone to request assistance without needing to find or operate a separate mobile phone.
Depending on how the mCareWatch is configured, SOS alerts can connect the wearer with nominated contacts or a monitoring service.
This means access to support can remain with the wearer at home and while they’re out in the community.
5. Reminders can provide prompts throughout the day
Dementia safety technology can also support everyday routines.
Medication and task reminders can be configured to provide prompts directly through the mCareWatch, helping support activities that form part of the wearer’s daily routine.
These can be managed remotely, reducing the amount of interaction the wearer needs to have with the technology itself.
6. Connected technology can support families and carers too
The technology isn’t only designed around the person wearing the device.
Through the mCare Digital app and ConnectiveCare® platform, approved family members and carers can access features such as location information, geo-fence alerts, SOS notifications, reminders and device information.
This creates a connected circle of support around the wearer while allowing the technology itself to remain relatively simple.
Dementia Choices accredited
The mCareWatch has also received Dementia Choices accreditation, recognising its suitability for people living with dementia.
For mCare Digital, designing dementia-friendly technology means thinking beyond what a device can do. It also means considering how easily it can fit into someone’s life, how much interaction it requires and how it can support the network of people around them.
Technology that supports people living with Dementia
Dementia safety technology isn’t a replacement for human care, family connection or professional support.
Instead, features such as geo-fencing, GPS location, SOS assistance, auto-answer and everyday reminders can provide additional tools around the person.
Ultimately, the goal is not simply to know where someone is.
It’s to help create the conditions for people living with dementia to remain connected to their families, their communities and the lives they know for as long as possible.
As a carer I find it annoying that watch only stays chargrd for 2 days. A Garmin watch stays charged for 10 days or longer. It puts an added chore on to the carer to make sure watch is charged. As primary carer, I find this difficult to manage. Perhaps you need a better battery in your watches.
Hi Jane,
Thank you for taking the time to share this feedback. You’re right that our watch’s battery life is a shorter than some other smartwatches on the market, including Garmin’s. The key difference is that our watches have an in-built SIM and works independently over the mobile network, much like a mobile phone – rather than relying on Bluetooth on a paired phone nearby, as most other smartwatches do. That constant 4G mobile connection plus the health and safety features running continuously in the background (GPS, or vital monitoring), draw more power than a typical fitness watch. That said, we understand this doesn’t make the day-to-day easier, especially when charging falls on you.
A couple of things that might help in the meantime:
– Setting a daily charging routine can make it feel like less of a separate task
– Some carers find it helpful to keep a spare charging cable in a second location (like the bedside vs the kitchen) to reduce the chance of missing a day
We also want you to know this kind of feedback matters – and I’ll be passing your comment on to our product team, as battery life is something we’re continuing to look at improving in future versions.
Thank you again for raising this, and please reach out if there is anything we can assist you with.
Also – happy to send you an additional charger cable at no cost to you if you feel this would help.
Thank you,
Paul