Augment
Dementia is a rapidly growing disease in the United States as the mean age of the population is steadily increasing. Out of Dementia, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, Dementia ranked number one in terms of health care expenses but fell last in annual national investment in research. My team and I set out to learn more about this disease and what we could do to improve communication between patients and their caregivers. Partnering with Mather Lifeways in Evanston, IL and facilities throughout the city of Chicago, we created Augment. Augment is a pyramidal display that allows a patient or loved one to place specific daily rituals or topics inside the display for nurses to see as they come in and out of the home or a facility. From our research, we focused on a Dementia patient retaining a sense of routine and identity. Augment allows patients to maintain this routine no matter who is caring for them on a particular day.