The bedroom has simple features which make living at home more comfortable, with technology providing a support for independence and a sense of security and safety.

Bedroom

Common dementia related issues in the bedroom include difficulties with finding things, locating toilet at night, dressing, getting in and out of bed, securing the home, wandering at night, sleep disturbances and inability to control temperature and lighting.

To maintain independence and safety in the bedroom, it is important to ensure a comfortable environment, prevent falls, make it easier to find the toilet at night, enable safe wandering/ walking about at night, as well as support healthy sleep for others living in the same home.

The blind in the main bedroom is operable from the bedside switches, one switch lifts the blind to the desired height, and the second switch lowers the blind. The curtains have been made of fire retardant fabric. The blind in the main bedroom is motorised to allow opening and closing from the bed or from a remote location. This is a feature often seen in modern automated homes at the higher end of the scale; however it was felt that the ability to open the blind and see the sky and the trees for a person in bed could be a wonderful feature.

A switch at the bed head can become a ‘goodnight’ switch, turning off all lights and locking all electronically controlled doors. This could also be done using a ‘remote’ switch similar to a vehicle remote.

A sensor has been installed in the main bedroom to allow for programming of the light switches. If a resident wakes during the night and gets out of bed, lights will come on at 30% (or as programmed) and provide a path to the bathroom. Once the resident returns to the bed the lights will be dimmed, after a programmed period of time.

The hard wired smoke alarm is situated outside the bedroom, as required, and is connected to the smart wiring. It can provide a direct link to the call centre or a family member.

A call assistance button is located at the bed head, if pressed it has been programmed to send a call to a pre-set phone number, it allows for a cancellation at the phone handset prior to making the assistance call.

The bedroom has a television available; it will be connected to the video intercom at the front door once it has been installed.

Stand alone devices which may support independence, safety and leisure include:

Note the Connected technology in the bedroom, which includes:

  • emergency call assistance button connected to care call centre
  • automated climate control, blind, sensor lighting and good night switch for remote locking of doors
  • chair and bed occupancy sensors connected to automatically turn on the bathroom light when the person gets out of bed
  • enuresis sensor to alert carer of urinary incontinence

Some of the ideas are simple and inexpensive, whilst others require professional installation and are more costly. For professional advise regarding your circumstances and needs, please contact the Independent Living Centre on 1300 885 886.

The Care Call system

The system installed in the BCS Age Friendly Home comprises the following:

  • Tunstall 4000 alarm unit which will respond to all radio trigger alerts and dials the Care Call Emergency Response Centre automatically allowing two way hands free speech throughout the cottage.
  • the Amie pendant which is worn by the user while in and around the cottage. There are two pendants located permanently in the bathroom
  • the Fall Detector which is worn by the user while in and around the cottage it will rapidly detect and identify serious falls and the fall detector will alert the alarm unit which will dial the Care Call Emergency Response Centre automatically allowing two way hands free speech, or if the operator does not hear a voice will automatically recognise call is from fall detector and contact help immediately.
  • Bed Occupancy sensor (under mattress) provides an early warning that the user has left their bed and not returned within a pre-determined time (10 minutes). When the occupant leaves the bed, a lamp is automatically switched on in the bedroom to assist the resident move around the room with safety and help to eliminate risk of falling while disoriented having woken from sleep in the dark. This is set to allow a person time to visit the bathroom or get a drink from the kitchen, typical night time activities. When the resident returns to bed within the pre-determined time frame the light will go off after 1 minute and the unit goes back to sleep. If however the user does not return to bed, the alarm sends a signal to the Response Centre. Two-way speech can then determine what kind of assistance is required.
  • Chair Occupancy sensor – works in the same way as bed sensor and is located in the bedroom.
  • Epileptic Seizure Alarm – is a bed alarm system for people suffering epilepsy. It automatically alarms when noticing tonic-clonic shakings or similar continued movement by the patient. It can also alarm of a hyperventilation seizure. The alarm can also continuously monitor presence in bed. Alarm located on bed in bedroom.