The TICAD research group held a talk on how to care for people with Alzheimer's disease

Guayaquil, lunes 18 septiembre 2017
Cristina Calderón, from TASE Foundation
Cristina Calderón, from TASE Foundation
 
 
On September 13th, the university's branch campus in Guayaquil hosted the meeting for the Help Groups for people with Alzheimer's disease. The meeting was organized by UPS's Communication and Information Technologies for disabilities Group (Grupo de Tecnologías de Información y Comunicación Asociadas a la Discapacidad (TICAD)) and the Foundation Transcender con Amor, Servicio y Excelencia (TASE for its acronym in Spanish) in order to share means that help care for people with Alzheimer's. 

"Alzheimer's is a disease that not only depends on the caregiver but the whole family, so it is important to carry out these activities that make the disease visible," said Nelson Mora,  UPS professor.

Cristina Calderón, development manager of TASE Foundation and trainer of the event, said that these events allows the young university students and members of the community in general to be aware and sensitive with a disease that mainly affects the elderly. "We must first learn about the disease to know how to face it, and the love we put into caring for a person who suffers from it will make a great change in his/her life," he said.

The expert recommends that caregivers" carry out physical exercises (walks), regular visits to the doctor, ensure the proper nutrition of the patient and, above all, handle the situation with love, which will allow our elderly adults to cope with this serious disease. "We should not forget that we get older we are more likely to suffer from this and other diseases," said Calderón.

Adequacy within the home is necessary to make spaces safer for people with Alzheimer's. The basic tips are:

• Remove carpets and cover dangerous edges

• Use signs, mainly drawings

• Avoid steps, slopes or gaps

• Use only essential furniture

On the other hand, communication with people who suffer from this disease is a great challenge for all caregivers, therefore the TASE representative points out the importance of respecting some good practices, such as: not discussing, avoiding contradicting, using simple words in a friendly tone, not speak to them as if they were children.

At the end of the event, a guide was given to caregivers of people with Alzheimer's and then students from the TICAD Research group presented the mobile application called "Medical Alarm" which has the function of controlling and notifying the intake of medicines for people suffering from this disease. "As a university we want our students to create technological applications to help people improve their quality of life," concluded Mora.