Caring for A Loved One Memory Lane Games
Memory Lane Games provides personalized dementia care for those living with dementia and their carers. Available as an app to play on phone or tablet, the frustration-free games are based on reminiscence therapy and help to create joyful moments, laughter and smiles. More than ‘just’ an activity, our games are a practical tool that have proven to be successful at calming, settling and distracting those with dementia thus making the job of caring that little bit easier and with clinically backed data , person centered care can be evidenced and tracked. Learn more at https://memorylanegamesdirect.com
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 For seniors and their families facing dementia, a new app promises to help.
00:06 With us to describe how it works, Bruce Elliott, the CEO of Memory Lane Games, and Lisa Minnette,
00:12 Senior Director of Enrichment at Benevea.
00:14 Welcome, you guys.
00:16 I'm so glad that you are here.
00:18 Bruce, start us off and tell us how the app works.
00:21 Well, we, a few years ago, we were in a pub talking about our own moms, and we came up
00:26 with an idea to turn photos into games, and that really found out we're turning memories
00:30 into games.
00:31 So we created an app with 3,000 games on various topics like hobbies and interests and familiar
00:37 places, and people just play them and enjoy and talk.
00:41 It's not about brain training, it gets people talking, and that's what we're seeing at wonderful
00:46 facilities like Benevea, who are using our app every day.
00:49 So you're using it now with some of the residents?
00:51 Yep, we have our members.
00:54 We're an adult day program, so we're 8 to 5 Monday through Friday, and our members come
00:59 if they're struggling, we pair them up with a volunteer who will sit with them and play
01:04 the game to make sure that they are calming down, taking care of things, just really a
01:11 relaxation kind of tool.
01:14 I had a situation one day when a member was really struggling.
01:19 At the end of the day, transportation wasn't there.
01:21 I actually sat with him and played this game right here, and he was able to finish the
01:29 lyrics and it just really helped him to understand and just calm him for the end of the day.
01:37 This is great.
01:38 Okay, so we're actually seeing how this works in real time.
01:41 Bruce's iPad is connected here to our monitor.
01:45 Finish the Chubby Checker lyric, "Come on baby, let's do the twist."
01:49 Well, but if you get shout, it just gently disappears, and we're told by groups that
01:55 that's errorless learning, frustration free, so it doesn't get anybody upset, and that's
01:59 what's the beauty of this.
02:01 It continues to talk, and the reason that you stop here and we don't jump to the next
02:06 question is people are still talking about the photos.
02:08 They'll talk about when they saw the band or the restaurant they went to or something
02:13 like that, and that's the beauty of it.
02:16 We got 3,000 games.
02:17 Wait a second.
02:18 Will you go to ... What should we do?
02:20 Ice cream or puppies?
02:21 Puppies.
02:22 Pick it.
02:23 Lisa says puppies.
02:24 All right, let's go to puppies.
02:26 Let's take a walk down memory lane.
02:27 What type of spotty puppy is this?
02:30 Well, that's a Dalmatian.
02:32 There we go.
02:33 Look how cute.
02:34 And then this sparks a conversation about I had a Dalmatian.
02:38 Did you have a dog?
02:39 What's your dog's name?
02:41 Calming, distracting, engaging.
02:44 It's so simple, but this is something we designed for our moms, and now it's ... The games were
02:49 played in 100 countries last month, and in March we were at the Mayo Clinic and ASU MedTech
02:55 Accelerator, and somehow our little group won that.
02:58 Congrats.
02:59 And now we're looking at setting up operations in Arizona, in Phoenix.
03:05 It's really exciting.
03:06 We've had such a warm welcome here from Benavia and others.
03:09 It's incredible.
03:10 Yeah, and it's really neat because we can play it with a group of members, or we can
03:13 play it individually.
03:15 So it can be a trivia game that they can answer, or we can have it to be something that's quiet
03:23 for just one person that's struggling.
03:26 I've just been sucked into this.
03:27 I'm like, "Wait a second.
03:28 I want to play at the Elvis ... Oh, wait.
03:32 What was the name of this famous rock and roll venue in Phoenix?
03:35 I should know that.
03:36 Celebrity?"
03:37 Exactly.
03:38 So we have games on every city in America.
03:41 So no matter where your dad or grandpa grew up, we have a game on that place.
03:45 The same in the UK, Canada, India, Philippines, Germany, Australia.
03:49 Well, speaking of your grandpa, I was just thinking as you were showing us in real time
03:53 how to use this app about ... My dad lives near us.
03:57 We see him all the time.
03:58 So my kids are very familiar with interacting with him.
04:02 However, some people don't see their grandkids much, and I feel like it's hard to talk to
04:06 somebody from another generation.
04:08 Absolutely.
04:09 At Benevea, we actually have an intergenerational program.
04:12 So the kids do come over and interact with the grandmas and grandpas.
04:16 And at some of our other programs, we have homeschool groups and different Girl Scouts,
04:22 Boy Scouts that come in and do that interaction as well, which is pretty impressive as well.
04:28 And they can also do this.
04:29 And then we can also send it home with the families so that those grandkids who are at
04:34 home and might visit can utilize the app as well.
04:38 And then grandpa can go, "You don't know Chubby Checker?
04:41 Come on!"
04:42 Exactly.
04:43 The twist.
04:44 Before we let you go, how can people get this app?
04:47 Great.
04:48 So memorylanegamesdirect.com.
04:51 And for our memory care facilities across America, contact us through that site.
04:59 And our platform, we license it into the care homes.
05:02 And we do that in Canada, in the UK, and now in Arizona.
05:07 And we were able to do it because of the great grant that we were given through Thunderbirds
05:11 Charities.
05:12 Fantastic.
05:13 So we were able to fund it for the year so that we're able to bring it to our members.
05:18 [BLANK_AUDIO]