|
News Archive
|
Previous News articles: |
December 2002
How to obtain the ENABLE products?
Many write to us to ask where to buy the products we show on this
web site. Under Technology in the menu, we have now added contact
addresses or web sites for all the devices that are, or are going
to be available. If you have trouble getting in contact with any of
them, please tell us, and we will try to help you. |
|
December 2002
Kaunas University of Medicine in Lithuania
will start working in the ENABLE project early 2003, when the contract
amendment is signed. A national workshop will be organised, and the
consortium meeting is held in Lithuania in March 2003. |
|
October 2002
The Mid term review of the progress
of the project was held in Bath in October 2002. Professor Mary Marshall
was the evaluator on behalf of the European Commission. Prior to the
review she had received and read an extensive amount of documentation
from the project, and took part in the consortium meeting and discussions
that took place for the two days preceding the review. The review
triggered many interesting discussions, and the consortium found these
very constructive and useful. Professor Marshall gave a very favourable
review of the work and potentials of the project, and many wise suggestions
for our further work. |
|
September 2002
Mandy Brady, London, sent us the following
encouraging comment: “I have just looked at the “enable”
site through your link and am very impressed and delighted to see
that there are such products being developed for sufferers of dementia.
The locator for lost items looks wonderful, and so easy to use. Please
do let me know when it becomes available on the market – we
have 8 sets of door keys lost in my mother’s house! Such an
item would prevent further “losses” and give great peace
of mind and less anxiety to my mother!” |
|
September 2002
The Norwegian Ministry of Social Affairs
has just made a proposition for a new law concerning ethical issues
in relation to people with dementia. It includes the use of technology
for safety purposes, and recommendations around the use of monitoring
and alarm systems. Comments to the law were called for before 1 September
2002, and we expect a wide, public discussion about the legal situation
of people with dementia before the law is passed. |
|
September 2002
The ENABLE project is now half finished.
Mid term review is in Bath in October, and Professor Mary Marshall
is the reviewer on behalf of the European Commission. All aspects
of the project are up for discussion, to ensure that the project
is running smoothly, as planned and within its resources. |
|
04-July-2002
ENABLE presented at the RESNA Conference
ENABLE presented at the RESNA Conference in Minneapolis, US.
Petrina Duff presented ENABLE at RESNA 2002. The presentation created
great interest and many questions about how to get the products, the
trials, etc. The paper is now published in the proceedings from RESNA:
Proceedings of the RESNA 25th International Conference. Technology
and Disability: Research, Design, Practice and Policy. Simpson, R.
(ed). Arlington: RESNA Press. |
|
July-2002
Journal of Dementia Care writes about ENABLE
Vol 10 No 1 Jan/Feb 2002 includes an article about the ENABLE project.
The article, pp26 to 28, is written by Inger Hagen, who is scientific
co-ordinator of the ENABLE project. It gives a good overview of the
background and the issues in the project. We will write regular updates
to this journal, because it is a high quality journal that reaches
a large, engaged and interested audience, also those who do not use
the web to keep updated. |
|
June-2002
New Partner
We are happy to announce that the project now has a new partner: Kaunas
University of Medicine, Lithuania. Because of this new partner,
we plan to extend the duration for the project with six months, until
the end of August 2004. More news about the new
partner later this summer. |
|
May-2002
Protocol for product assessment
The user trials in the assessment studies are now running in all
four partner countries. And this means that the ENABLE assessment
methods are finally being tried.
Extensive work has been carried out in order to ensure quality
of the research and to comply with ethical issues in the trials. |
|
01-Feb-2002 Handicap
ENABLE will participate at the annual exhibition and conference Handicap
2002, in Oslo 23., 24. and 25. April. The ENABLE products will be
exhibited at Stand no BA 23, which is funded by the IT Funk activity
in the Norwegian Research Council. At the conference, the Norwegian
project participants will organise a workshop about the project and
about dementia as a handicap, and also be present at a "Speakers
Corner" to tell about the project. |
|
|
01-Feb-2002 Protocol
for product assessment
The protocol for the assessment study of the products in ENABLE will
be ready for the first trials to start in March 2002.
Extensive work has been carried out in order to ensure research
quality and comply with ethical issues in the assessment studies
that are going to take place in all four partner countries.
Five products will be tried in all
countries:
- Night lamp
- Day-night calendar
- Programmable telephone
- Locator for lost objects
- Picture gramophone
In addition some optional products will be tried in each country.
In UK and Ireland, this will be the Cooker monitor. In Norway it
will be Medicine reminder and Remote day planner. In Finland the
trials of the Picture gramophone will be wider, in day care centres
as well as private homes. |
|
|
30-Jan-2002 Stakeholder
workshop in Oslo
On 30 January 2002, 44 participants from the care sector, family carers,
therapists, regional centres for assistive technology, National Insurance
Agency, Research Council of Norway, suppliers and researchers met
for the first national ENABLE workshop in Oslo.
The topics covered were:
- introduction to ENABLE by Inger Hagen
- overview of dementia diseases and consequences for behaviour
by Aase Marit Nygard
- user requirements and ethical issues by Sidsel Bjørneby
- demonstration and discussion about the ENABLE products by Torhild
Holthe and Inger Hagen
- current work and future activities by Torhild Holthe and Sidsel
Bjorneby
The participants showed large interest and the discussion was lively.
They expressed awareness that there is a need for more information
about potentials of assistive technology for people with dementia,
and some new ideas came up.
Many of the participants had been in contact with the project in
focus groups and earlier presentations. Others were present for
the first time. The group expressed that they wanted to follow the
project actively and wanted to come to the next national workshop,
where discussions about the preliminary results of the trials will
be amongst the main topics. It was also obvious that they wanted
to download reports and papers from this web site as they become
available. |
|
|
14-Jan-2002 Consortium
meeting and ENABLE Stakeholder workshop in Helsinki march 11-13. |
|
|
14-Jan-2002 Methodology
and protocol for user assessment of the ENABLE products is
in its final discussion phase in January 2002. Assessment studies
to start in March 2002 and go on for up to one year in the four partner
countries. |
|
|
03-Oct-2001 The
Journal of Dementia Care in UK has organised an excellent conference
on dementia in Dublin 26 and 27 September. The Irish Action Plan on
Dementia is a good example of how to make progress in improving the
lives of people with dementia. At the conference there were interesting
presentations and discussions about the importance of co-ordinating
the efforts of biomedical, pshycological and social science professionals,
as well as technological developments and other related areas of work.
The ENABLE project was presented and received positive feedback. There
was general agreement that it is vitally important to raise the general
awareness of all the positive developments in the care of people with
dementia, not just the sad stories that the press tends to present. |
|
|
01-Oct-2001 From
now on general practitioners in Norway can prescribe dementia
specific medicine if they have experience with dementia patients.
Earlier the prescription had to be made by a specialist, which meant
that it was much more difficult to get. |
|
|
24-Sep-2001 September
21was World Alzheimer Day, and there were extensive arrangements
going on all over the world. Issues around the needs of people with
dementia are slowly coming on the agenda, but we still have a lot
of work ahead! |
|
|
14-Sep-2001 ENABLE
was presented at the big AAATE conference in Ljubljana 3-6
September, and created attention to technology and people with dementia.
The EC invited Inger Hagen to present the project as part of the Quality
of Life programme. After her presentation she was interviewed by a
Slovenian newspaper who found her paper very interesting. The paper
can be seen in the AAATE proceedings or by contacting Inger Hagen,
at post@ihagen.no |
|
|
|
| Enabling products for persons with dementia |
| This is the web site of an exciting research
project which is aimed at "marrying the new with the familiar"
when developing and introducing new technology to people with dementia
and their carers. |
| |
| Product of the month: |
| Programmable telephone with large buttons |
 |
| Click for more information |
|
| |
| Quality of Life |
| The project aims at facilitating independent living
of people with early dementia and to promote their wellbeing through
access to enabling systems and products. Pleasure, memory support,
entertainment and own activity are key words in the project. The project
is funded under the EC Programme Quality of Life and living resources,
and will last for three years, starting in March 2001.
|
| |
| Five countries, wide experience |
| The partners are situated in England, Ireland,
Finland, Lithuania and Norway, are interdisciplinary and have wide
experience in dementia care and research, technology development and
human factors. |
| |
| Contact us |
We welcome questions and comments!
-> post@enableproject.org
|
|
Funded
by the European Commission under the Programme "Quality of
Life and Management of Living Resources", Contract No. QLK6
- 2000 - 00653
|
| |
|
|