When I forget who you are, my love…
MEMOIR
Collaborative Group Project
Sep.2019 - Feb.2020
This project was developed in close collaborations with instructors and subject matter experts (SME) at Baycrest Hospital and The Samuel Lunenfeld Mountainview Club serving older adults with moderate to severe cognitive impairment.
My team and I successfully showcased this project at the Toronto Design Exhibition.
INTENTION
This is an OCAD University collaborative project with Baycrest Hospital.
Over the course of 4 months, we had the opportunity to co-work with Baycrest Hospital to develop an innovative assistive product that helps ease the lives of clients live with dementia, their families, and their caregivers. Each solution reflects the individual abilities, needs and wants of clients and/or care providers at Samuel Lunefeld Mountainview Club, Baycrest Health Sciences.
This is a group project for Baycrest Hospital, with a focus on helping people with dementia.
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Memoir is…
Memoir’s aim is to store the user’s most valued memories in a place where they can access them and share with others, especially loved ones. The older we get the more memories we collect and the more we tend to forget, but there are memories that linger within our minds for the entirety.
Product Impact
The fading of recent memories can cause confusion in people living with dementia, and can result in arguments between them and family or staff members over a wide variety of issues. This can lead to strained relationships and unhappiness.
Users that suffer from dementia get into arguments with staff and family members about many different topics, which leave everyone unhappy.
Therefore, Mountainview staff use a technique called distraction queueing, which redirects the conversation somewhere else. While effective, it is very taxing on the caregiver as sometimes there is a lack of knowledge about the client.
Memoir is here to help as it contains clients’ fondest memories, which caregivers can use as a distraction queueing tool. As clients redirect their attention to Memoir, the workload of the caregiver will be lessened.
Value Proposition
Memoir is a personal memory cueing tool that utilizes both visuals and sounds to help people living with dementia recall his or her fondest memories.
It also acts as a conversation starter, helping users engage with others through storytelling. Helping people with dementia recall, share, and engage with their memories and other people will improve their quality of life.
Memoir can also be used as a distraction queueing tool by caregivers to reduce their workload.
The quality of the materials and construction of Memoir enable it to pass it down as a memento of the primary user.
HOW WE DID IT?
The steps we took for this project