Alzheimer100

There are numerous challenges with traditional care methods of dementia patients. Some of these include social isolation, both of people with dementia and their carers; a lack of public awareness and the stigma attached to the subject; difficulty in navigating the wide array of support services that exist; a tendency of carers and services to be over-protective of people with dementia; and the long hours worked by carers on their own and without support.

To improve the everyday lives of people with dementia, their carers and service providers, social innovation and design agency Thinkpublic was invited by the British initiative Design of The Times 07 (Dott07) to co-develop a solution with North East of England branches of The Alzheimer’s Society.

The investigative and co-design process in Alzheimer100 resulted in a number of recommendations for improvement, including a Dementia Signposting Service, a Mentoring Programme for Carers and the design of a safe “Wandering Garden”.”

“We carried out a series of interviews and observations with people with dementia, carers, health professionals and volunteers: our co-design team. This helped us to gain insight into living with dementia,” the design agency explained.

Thinkpublic hosted a skill-sharing workshop with the “co-design team” in which they taught them how to use film equipment, interview one another, and blog. The co-designers then spent time using these techniques to capture their experiences of dementia and the challenges they face. An 18 minute long documentary film was also produced.

“We continue to work with Alzheimer’s Society, the NHS, and people with dementia to develop the Signposting Service. This service is designed to help people diagnosed with dementia to navigate the wide array of support services that are available for them”.