This past August, my uncle’s mom passed away due to Alzheimer’s. Since they lived on O’ahu and I lived on the Big Island, I never truly understood the hardships they went through until recently. I could hear the emotional toll these past 7 to 8 years had on them. Unable to afford home care, the three of them had to live off of one paycheck because caring for her was like watching an infant requiring more hours than a full-time job. Most people are aware of what Alzheimer’s is, but I had never realized the extent of it. Her brain function wouldn’t even cue her on when she’s hungry or when she needs to use the bathroom.
They told me she would sometimes have a dull look in her eyes like she wasn't even there. That’s something I can’t fathom. Putting myself in their shoes, I would be devastated if I found out that my mom, the person who raised me, was slowly losing her memories. She would be a person physically recognizable, but mentally and emotionally absent. She would have lost the spark in her eyes. She wouldn’t be her.
Recently, my other uncle found out his mom is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The feeling that just comes with the word Alzheimer’s is heavy. It feels confounding that it’s happening again. It feels heartbreaking, lugubrious, and hopeless. But this time, I don’t feel so hopeless, because this time, I’m working on a product that will hopefully make an impact. Not only for my uncle’s mom, but everyone else affected by Alzheimer’s.
Solution: We at Phoenix Light are creating an LED light hub called Hyperion. Our light hub will offer verbal reminders, full spectrum lighting, and brain stimulating games for patients who are going through the early stages of Alzheimer’s. The verbal reminders will be implementing AWS Amazon Services. This feature will remind the patient to take their medications or track sleep cycles to prompt personalized recordings from the family to reassure the patient of their whereabouts. The recordings will differ depending on the severity of the patient. Studies have shown that sleep disturbances are common for people with Alzheimer’s, which affects their well-being during the day. To combat this, we will incorporate variable lighting schemes to imitate natural lighting to regulate their circadian rhythm. We will offer brain stimulating games verbally through riddles and puzzles of fluctuating difficulties. This may be simple math questions or geography questions that we provide or questions the family supplies like “What is your son’s name.” Sort of like playing Jeopardy. We hope to lessen the burden on the family or caretaker and add utility to a seemingly insignificant household item, the lamp.
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