14 year old creates app to help Alzheimer’s patients recognize their loved ones

Emma was 7 years old when she started to see her grandma struggle to remember her family members. As the next few years went on, the memory problems only got more frequent. This inspired Emma to figure out a way to use coding that will help patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Emma decided the best way she can help is with an app since she already knew coding from a young age.

“I have personal experience with how the disease can affect not only the patient, but also family and friends. When I was about 11 or 12, I got really interested in using technology for social good to help other people around the world,” Emily says.

Her app is called Timeless and it’s currently under development. Timeless let’s them m scroll through pictures of their friends and family, then using facial recognition technology, it tells the patients who the person is and how they are related/connected. This is especially helpful if someone comes in and they don’t recognize them. The patient has to simply take a picture of the person and the app will let them know.

Aside from identifying friends and family, the app can also be used to find their appointments for the day. It comes with a very simplistic contact screen that has photos of their family members next to their names. Sometimes, Alzheimer’s patients will call the same person multiple times , forgetting that they just spoke.

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“the app will flash a quick reminder: “Are you sure you want to call? You just called less than five minutes ago.”

Who is responsible for managing the app? The patients caregiver. They will add events to the daily calendar, as well as invite friends and family to send pictures to help withfacial recognition. Timeless is still in development and according to Fast Co, Emma is optimistic that the app will help, especially for those in early Alzheimer’s stage. She started a crowdfunding campaign to raise money so she can start testing the app with Alzheimer’s patients.

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/timeless-a-mobile-app-for-alzheimer-s-patients