Tonight's picture was taken in July of 2009. On my birthday! Mattie, with the help of Peter's parents, created this wonderful 3-D lighthouse birthday card for me. He presented it to me and you can see he was beaming with pride. I am so glad we snapped photos of that moment in time and of Mattie's lighthouse. Mattie knew I loved lighthouses and I shared that enthusiasm with him over the years. You can also see the state of our living room while Mattie was in treatment. There were toys and things everywhere!
Quote of the day: Today's coronavirus update from Johns Hopkins.
- number of people diagnosed with the virus: 4,212,057
- number of people who died from the virus: 146,732
I came across an article today (posted below) about the use of Google Map technology (started in 2007) to help patients with dementia remember. I had no idea "BikeAround" is used at hospitals already in the USA and other countries. BikeAround pairs a stationary bike with Google Street View to take dementia patients on a virtual ride down memory lane. As the article mentions, "Patients input a street address of a place that means something to them - a childhood home for instance - and then use the pedals and handlebars to “bike around” their old neighborhoods."
The article talks about how our memories are tied to locations! Think about this for yourself! When we remember moments in time, we typically associate them with the location we were in! I know this is true for me. When I think about 9/11, I remember being in my living room. If I think about when Mattie was diagnosed with cancer, I recall being in a waiting room at Virginia Hospital Center. My memories are contextualized by the places I was in, or my surroundings. Which makes sense why this researcher decided to evoke memories by virtually transporting older adults to a place.
BikeAround takes the mental stimulation from virtually placing patients in a location they recognize, and combines it with the physical stimulation from pedaling and steering a stationary bicycle. Scientists think this pairing produces dopamine in the brain and has the potential to affect memory management in a profound way.
Needless to say, I found the concept fascinating as memory issues are on the forefront of mind these days. Check out the article and four minute video below!
Meet the researcher using Google Maps to help dementia patients:
https://about.google/stories/bike-around/
No comments:
Post a Comment