Digital photo frame-or other gift- for friend with Alzheimer’s
November 13, 2023 9:42 AM
One of my very best friends retired during the pandemic and has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. We’d like to give her a photo frame as a gift. Ideally: send photos by email rather than app or USB, good image quality, ability to add captions. And other gift ideas for folks with dementia would be appreciated!
We are hoping to find ideas to improve our friend’s quality of life and help her feel less isolated. She’s in her late 60s and her disease seems to be fairly advanced-for instance, she will frequently believe her husband is not really her husband, think there are other people living in her home, and forgets that people have seen her for lunch. They are very isolated-estranged from all family and her husband is incredibly introverted so really, our weekly lunches and water aerobics are the only social activities she had. I work full time and have kids at home so am limited in how frequently we can get together.
Her other BFF and I have thought a photo frame would help keep her connected. We saw the recent question from earlier this month, but that was for folks with no WiFi. Captions would be great but not mandatory. We bought the Skylight frame for my mom and MIL and that’s been great as anyone can just email-is that still the best option? We don’t want anything that requires an app.
And any other gift ideas for folks with dementia?
We are hoping to find ideas to improve our friend’s quality of life and help her feel less isolated. She’s in her late 60s and her disease seems to be fairly advanced-for instance, she will frequently believe her husband is not really her husband, think there are other people living in her home, and forgets that people have seen her for lunch. They are very isolated-estranged from all family and her husband is incredibly introverted so really, our weekly lunches and water aerobics are the only social activities she had. I work full time and have kids at home so am limited in how frequently we can get together.
Her other BFF and I have thought a photo frame would help keep her connected. We saw the recent question from earlier this month, but that was for folks with no WiFi. Captions would be great but not mandatory. We bought the Skylight frame for my mom and MIL and that’s been great as anyone can just email-is that still the best option? We don’t want anything that requires an app.
And any other gift ideas for folks with dementia?
A word of caution: I am in the middle of trying to furnish my father’s room at the memory care facility, and I had this same idea. But the staff there and another family caregiver said that these picture frames can be bad for people with moderate and later dementia because they change randomly. It adds to disorientation rather than providing comfort. Since my Dad is in the advanced stages of the disease and is having paranoid thoughts and agitation, I opted not to get one.
posted by minervous at 12:41 PM on November 13, 2023
posted by minervous at 12:41 PM on November 13, 2023
Minervous raises a good point. It might be a much better idea to print-out photos and put them in an old-school photo album.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:47 AM on November 14, 2023
posted by Thorzdad at 5:47 AM on November 14, 2023
When you set up the photos, be sure to write the names of every person on the picture, even if it's a close family member. My dad loves it when I mark up photos for his Aura Carver digital picture frame with every single person's name (even his own!), or if I write the names on the back of each of a stack of printed photos.
It is entirely possible to email photos to the Aura picture frame, once you set up an account for each person who will be sending photos. The source email address must match an account for that frame, as a security measure. You can invite everyone you want to be able to send photos. We found we prefer using the app, rather than emailing the photos, as it allows additional controls such as positioning the photo if it's not quite the right height and width.
Both of our elderly demented family members to whom we've given these frames love them. It's really an excellent idea. We have not observed that the changing pictures cause any agitation or distress in our family member with more advanced dementia. She often remarks on how much she loves the pictures. I added pictures of her with her parents when she was a child. It makes her so happy. Our family member with less advanced dementia loves seeing pictures of what we've been talking about on the phone. Using the app, I can see which photo is displaying right now, and we chat about each one.
The only caveat is that you need wifi fur the frame to work (no problem at the memory care center), and someone has to set it up there; Aura's method of presetting the wifi password before sending it to them did not work for us. Fortunately we were able to get a relative to do each one there.
The built-in captions are not nearly as user-friendly as simply writing the caption on the photo before you send it. Demented people don't remember what to press to see the caption.
posted by metonym at 3:15 PM on November 14, 2023
It is entirely possible to email photos to the Aura picture frame, once you set up an account for each person who will be sending photos. The source email address must match an account for that frame, as a security measure. You can invite everyone you want to be able to send photos. We found we prefer using the app, rather than emailing the photos, as it allows additional controls such as positioning the photo if it's not quite the right height and width.
Both of our elderly demented family members to whom we've given these frames love them. It's really an excellent idea. We have not observed that the changing pictures cause any agitation or distress in our family member with more advanced dementia. She often remarks on how much she loves the pictures. I added pictures of her with her parents when she was a child. It makes her so happy. Our family member with less advanced dementia loves seeing pictures of what we've been talking about on the phone. Using the app, I can see which photo is displaying right now, and we chat about each one.
The only caveat is that you need wifi fur the frame to work (no problem at the memory care center), and someone has to set it up there; Aura's method of presetting the wifi password before sending it to them did not work for us. Fortunately we were able to get a relative to do each one there.
The built-in captions are not nearly as user-friendly as simply writing the caption on the photo before you send it. Demented people don't remember what to press to see the caption.
posted by metonym at 3:15 PM on November 14, 2023
You asked for other ideas. We found this large wall mounted clock was helpful because it very clearly give both the day of the week and time of day (morning, afternoon, evening) so if they wake up they can easily check to see if it is the wee hours of the morning or the middle of the afternoon.
posted by metahawk at 6:22 PM on November 15, 2023
posted by metahawk at 6:22 PM on November 15, 2023
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posted by mcgsa at 10:43 AM on November 13, 2023