What is Dementia?
Dementia is a general term (not a specific disease) that describes a group of symptoms which negatively impacts memory severe enough to interfere with daily life.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia with 60-80% of cases, while Vascular Dementia is the second most common dementia type. Nevertheless, there are many other conditions that cause symptoms of dementia. As opposed to Alzheimer’s, some forms of dementia are reversible.
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There is one reason why
we' re doing what we're doing!
A very personal one!
“Watching people we cared for succumb to memory loss left us with the belief that there must be something we can do to help the ones we love. Why weren’t there any tools to help care for those with Alzheimer’s and Dementia and keep caregivers sane?”
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Our Story
The MindMate App’s genesis begins with three young adults caring for those with cognitive decline. Patrick and Susanne were volunteering in care centers while Roger was helping his grandfather, who was living with Alzheimer’s. Watching people they cared for succumb to memory loss left them with the belief that there must be something we can do to help the ones we love. Why weren’t there any tools to help care for those with Alzheimer’s and Dementia?
The MindMate App’s genesis begins with three young adults caring for those with cognitive decline. Patrick and Susanne were volunteering in care centers while Roger was helping his grandfather, who was living with Alzheimer’s. Watching people they cared for succumb to memory loss left them with the belief that there must be something we can do to help the ones we love. Why weren’t there any tools to help care for those with Alzheimer’s and Dementia?
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United in their dedication to creating more resources, the three decided to develop an mobile app for other caregivers like themselves. With the help of Dr. Terry Quinn from the University of Glasgow’s Institute of Cardiovascular and Medical Sciences, the team began to translate contemporary research in Dementia care into an actionable, digital platform. Based on this research, the MindMate App was born.
Combining brain games, healthy nutrition, regular exercise and social interaction, the MindMate App can guide its users towards a multifaceted, holistic lifestyle change that may help curtail some of the effects of cognitive decline. While science is continuing to provide more insight into diseases like Dementia, check out how the current research helped shaped MindMate.
There is one reason why we’re doing what we’re doing!
A very personal one!
When Francisco, Roger's grandfather, approached his 70th birthday things started to change. He would forget things and become aggressive, which was nothing like him. He stopped doing the gardening and got annoyed by every little thing.
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Roger knew that something was wrong, but it wasn’t until his grandpa kept mixing him up with his father that he realized that he probably wasn't going back to normal. He started to forget everything about everyone else and, finally, about himself. Carmen, Francisco's wife, kept pictures and tried to save records of her husband’s life but most of it has gotten lost.
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Roger remembered how hard it was to care for his grandpa and how hard it was to see him change. They got barely any help and they didn’t really know what to expect either. During this time, Roger's greatest wish was that he had known more about his grandpa’s past and that there was more left of his story and life.
A lot of this was inspiring for us, MindMate gives people exactly these tools; tools to help them save all the information that is important to them. Furthermore, it is also a tool that supports them in their everyday life and keeps them engaged. We wish Francisco could have tried the app, but unfortunately he passed away in June 2013. Carmen followed just 2 years later.
One of the last memories Rogelio has from his grandpa will stay with him forever. He visited him and wasn’t sure if he would recognize him or not. Francisco smiled at his grandson as soon as he came in, but it quickly became clear that he thought he was dealing with his son, Rogelio’s father.
Still, the two sat together and Francisco started to speak: “My son, there will be so much work to do in the mines tomorrow. Have I already told you about what happened to me last week? There was a really strange man who came by to ask for a job. He was very small and wore a funny hat…”
