Inspiration
Seniors with dementia can need lots of support. CCAC is limited more and more in what they can do. Just as it takes a village to raise a child, the same is true in caring for seniors. The evidence supports improved mortality in seniors who are well connected to their communities. We have worked with several physicians at the Toronto East General Hospital (TEGH) who work closely with persons with dementia (such as geriatric psychiatrists and family physicians working at TEGH's memory clinic) to come up with a solution.
What it does
We have developed an app that divides up patient’s care needs and allows a caregiving team to coordinate their actions and communicate effectively. For example, the affected senior has a daughter living locally, has a couple of close friends across town and a trusted next door neighbor. Each of these willing people sign on to the app's care team for this senior. Perhaps the daughter takes the lead and determines the weekly 'to do's' that the senior needs to complete and posts them on the app. Each team member gets a request to look at the list and see if they can help complete an item or items. The list updates with who is willing to do what task. When completed, the team member updates the status of the task and could also update with any comments, questions or concerns. These can be stored within the app so that the patient and their caregivers can organize their concerns and questions and share them with their healthcare professionals more effectively. Clinicians caring for the senior could be members as well and would help in determining medical and psychosocial needs as well coordinate care with providers like CCAC. Our app can also connect caregivers with additional resources such as Community Navigation and Access Program (CNAP) and Alzheimer Society, so that caregivers can easily find help when needed.
What's next for CareConnect
WE NEED YOUR HELP to share our amazing and easy-to-use app with patients, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and computer programmers so that through their help and feedback we can make our app a must-have!
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