Personal experiences with Alzheimer's/dementia clock?

February 13, 2023 12:24 PM

I'm looking for a clock for an elderly relative with dementia (probably Alzheimer's) and vision problems. It needs to 1. plug in 2. have battery backup 3. have very large and clear text. 4. spell out the day of the week 5. display the time of day (e.g. morning, night) 6. automagically update for DST.

I'd prefer backlit LCD or e-ink for improved viewing angles, but I'll take what I can get. Does not need to speak, have lots of settings, have color, or be atomic.

Reviews online are hard to trust. There are a million products from nonsensically-named manufacturers with thousands of sketchy positive reviews, huge markups, and it's just frustrating. So I would really like to hear from you if you've actually given one to a relative, worked in a facility where someone used one of these clocks, or otherwise had experience with one.

posted by kutsushita nyanko to Grab Bag (10 answers total)

I use Alexa and a Grandpad for my mom, which automatically update themselves and display the date and time on their screensavers. The Grandpad is a very simple IPad device so although it sits in a charging cradle when she’s not holding it, it also doesn’t go dead for a long while if she’s forgotten to put it back.
posted by terridrawsstuff at 12:52 PM on February 13, 2023 [1 favorite]

I bought my father a Dakboard. They have gotten a lot more expensive and look to have changed their pricing model since then. It is a slicker, more packaged, version of a magic mirror. It looks like there are Etsy sellers making custom ones if this is something that might work for you.
posted by phil at 12:59 PM on February 13, 2023

Response by poster: Oh, I forgot to add, needs to be set-it-and-forget-it. She has home health aides but they can't be relied on to tweak technology for her (which is totally fair, it's not in their job description). So she shouldn't have to interact with it at all. Ideally, it'd be $100 or less. I guess up to $200, but ever since I've known her it seems that her likelihood of deciding she doesn't like something and using it increases along with the price point.
posted by kutsushita nyanko at 1:01 PM on February 13, 2023

Yeah, it's not you. There are various reputable dealers that sell assistive devices online that aren't suspect, but finding them is sometimes a huge pain in the ass because they're often buried by search results for less-reputable enterprises. Source: We've owned lots of assistive tech over the years including various flavours of talking/large format clocks (I'm married to a blind person).

This one looks like it ticks the following boxes: automatic DST updates, large characters (2 inches high), backlit LCD, displays AM/PM, and fully spells out the day of the week (it's AC-powered w/ an option for batteries). It's from a non-sketchy manufacturer, and sells for around $40 US.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 2:11 PM on February 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

Best answer: We bought this clock on Amazon for my mother and mounted it on the wall where she could easily see if from her bed (instead of having it sitting on the beside table where she would have to turn to be able to see it.
It is big and easy to read and it includes the day of the week, the actual time, the time of day (morning or evening) and the date. We would remind her that if someone asked her what day it was, she could look at the clock to find out. Also, when she woke up, she could look and see if it was morning or evening. Worked well for us.
posted by metahawk at 4:00 PM on February 13, 2023 [2 favorites]

I have to say that I bought several of these, the top sellers at Amazon, different brands different years. I bought several for bedrooms and for several offices. And none of them update for DST. So I had to go to each one and figure out the menu, on the back, changing it while you can't see the front at the same time. Twice a year! Grrr. Yes I had battery backup. So frustrated I donated all of them. Looking for new. Tried Amazon Echo but couldn't get it to do all the things I need although you can count on it changing for DST.
posted by memoryindustries at 8:11 PM on February 13, 2023

Best answer: We bought this one for my mom about a year ago and it works great.
posted by wisekaren at 6:22 AM on February 14, 2023 [1 favorite]

I'd get an old iPad and hang it on the wall.
posted by theora55 at 8:40 PM on February 14, 2023

Response by poster: We bought the one that wisekaren mentioned (I think it's identical to the one metahawk mentioned) and it was very easy to set up--came out of the box set to the right date, was only off on the time by 1 hours. It has a DST auto-update option in the settings. From the reviews and questions it sounds like it'll update as long as there's a wifi network it can ping in the area. Elderly relative can't quite read the part where it says "Morning" or "Afternoon" or whatever, but the AM/PM, which is so small on other clocks, is legible for her. Thanks!
posted by kutsushita nyanko at 9:01 PM on March 2, 2023

Response by poster: Further note: It totally automatically updated for DST! Relative has repeatedly called the clock "wonderful."
posted by kutsushita nyanko at 8:33 PM on March 13, 2023