Monitoring Mum with Camera

[kevwright]

Hope this is the right place for this!

Am a bit of a gadget nut so naturally I want to find some incredibly complicated techie way to monitor my Mum (lives on own and has Dementia) without having to constantly drive round to her.

Before I start anyone know of any thread already discussing this sort of thing, either here or other places?

Thinking along lines of either an IP camera or using an old smartphone or Netbook with webcam to monitor/interact with Mum?

Kev

 

[Karjo]

It brings up all sorts of human rights stuff (privacy/dignity etc) but quite honestly I think technology is the way to go in some respects. It just can't be anything that the dementa sufferer would have to operate because they dont have the skills. my mum couldn't even learn what a panic alarm was about and lost all ability to use her computer. scary though that she was still deemed as having capacity to drive but thats another story. if it was something she interacted with this might also scare her if you suddenly started talking to her. mind you mum thinks the TV is real and they are talking personally to her anyway, and she doesn't think its abnormal. every person is an individual and even the sufferer changes from one day to the next ( well my mum does anyway!)
There are links and discussions out there because i googled them in the past for my mum but sorry I have deleted the links now as events took over before we could use them and her needs have changed.
I remember wishing some techie could invent something reliable to prevent the locks/keys/locking in/locking out/losing purse/credit cards/money nightmare we went through at the time. Also a discreet camera at the door so we could have monitored if the people living in her house were real or not! One of our problems though would be getting these things paid for. Mum would refuse as she didnt have a problem to pay for anything! I know this seems mean but it was costing me a lot just running about trying to sort stuff so I didnt want additional expense as I had already gone from full to part time work.
I know a lot of this stuff does exist but by the time we managed to research it we were on to fire fighting some other issue-we simply kept running out of time because we were always looking for something she had lost (or we had hidden according to mum) or trying to fill out reems of paperwork.
I would stress though this techie stuff would need to be reliable and straightforward and easy to use . The alarm we got interacted with the phone or something, a dementia clock we got was pretty rubbish and loses time and was far too complicted. carers are under stress and lack time and going round in circles with bad instructions and things that dont work because they are incompatible with other hardware/software or whatever is just not fair.

 

[Chemmy]

I think you have to be careful of preserving her privacy. But I have heard of a camera being mounted in the hall, facing the front door as this would let you see who's calling and also when she's going out. It would also (presumably) only be triggered as she passed through the hallway - if it was in the lounge or kitchen. you'd have hours and hours of footage to wade through.

I must admit I'd be uncomfortable visiting my MIL if I knew my SIL was monitoring any conversation taking place, say, in the lounge. I think family and friends would need to be made aware if you went down this road.

 

[kevwright]

Thanks both, yes, I have thought long and hard about privacy and respect and have to admit it feels yucky at first. Facts are however that I can't be there every second of every day, and this seems like a possible partial solution.

The sort of thing I am considering is a small IP cam connected to the Internet which myself and brother, SIL, and my SO could dip into using our PCs and iPhones. It would not need to record anything so nothing to wade through as such and I don't really care if it has audio at all TBH.

Of course all family members would be aware of it, although I have to say it would worry the hell out of me if my SIL (for example) wanted it switched off while she was there?

Amazing how many of us get the same thing, just this week alone we have hidden all sorts of things from her, and an Olympic runner was sat in the chair talking to her!

Also, she can not decide which of her 6 bedrooms to sleep in, this is in her 1 bed tiny bungalow!

Would be funny if not for the tragic side of it.


Kev

 

[Chemmy]

Of course all family members would be aware of it, although I have to say it would worry the hell out of me if my SIL (for example) wanted it switched off while she was there?

I talk to my MIL about things I don't necessarily want mentioned to my SILs and vice versa - things that are going on in my family's life, such as private health issues, that are none of their business.

I would be much more circumspect if I thought they (or my BILs) were listening in.

And I know my SIL would be HORRIFIED if she thought either me or her brother or sister could listen in to her conversations with her mum

 

[kevwright]

I understand what you are saying, hence for me, a video only camera seems to be the answer here?

Kev

 

[NeverGiveUp]

There are all sorts of things available on Amazon, not so much even for buying but the reviews are interesting.

Would be very interested to know what the conclusion of this is, never knoe what one might need

 

[FifiMo]

Kev,

There is a camera thing that you can use to monitor your pets when you are away from home - might be worth checking that out if the system is already in existence.

Fiona

 

[tireddaughter]

Webcam

Hi Kev

Havent read all of the threads as my wife has just passed the laptop to me and said this chap needs a bit of help with the same setup we have. I have setup a camera at my mother in laws flat, it is an IP camera and if you go to ebay and punch in db power wireless camera you will find many UK sellers. They go for around £35 with free delivery. These cameras are nearly 360 viewable with infared and so can see in zero light conditions, I have attached speakers and the unit comes with an inbuilt mic so we can have a two way conversation. You can also add up to 8 cameras all round the house inside or out.

I am also a gadget freak and know my stuff (a bit) when it comes to computers but for some reason I did find the setup of this as a bit of a pain. firstly you will need broadband at your mums and I would sudgest if you go ahead with this use a hard wire and not wireles (10m cables on ebay around £5) and look on youtube where a nice australian chap has put a tutorial vid up explaining how to set this up.

As for the legality my opinion is rightly or wrongly stuff that, we have used this on a couple of times where we felt we had to get over there a bit sharpish and I would argue the case of having this in place with any judge on the planet. I do think in any case that this is legal, just walk down any high street and you will be filmed at least twenty time....I wouldnt worry about this side of it.

I cant tell you how strongly you should do this as it has been invaluable to us and more people should know about this technology, you can view this from a web page anywhere in the world at any time you want and also if you have an I-phone or smart phone you can also view over that.

I do hope this helps you and you go ahead with all of this as I am sure it will as it has done for us take a lot of weight from your already tired shoulders.

Feel free to contact me on (email address removed by moderator) if you need any help and I will do what I can

do this and all the best

Simon

Moderators note: please contact Simon via tireddaughter's PM if you need to

 

[Chemmy]

As for the legality my opinion is rightly or wrongly stuff that,

Kev: I would suggest that if you have carers coming in, they need to be told about it too.

You might want to read the Workplace Monitoring section in this link:

 

[kevwright]

Thanks Simon nice to hear it all works for you. Having looked into this some more I think I will go down the route of a cheap Android phone and some software called Cerberus.

What this does is allow me from any web browser to instruct the phone to take a picture, take up to 30 secs video or audio.

This will have a lot of benefits in our situation not least no need to install Broadband as it works over the GSM network.

It sends the pics and video to an email address and so far it works on iPhone and my many Tab devices.

I hope you don't feel you wasted your time with your message as this is stage 1 for me and if proves as useful as I think then I may go all in like you have.

Cheers

Kev

 

[kevwright]

Kev: I would suggest that if you have carers coming in, they need to be told about it too.

You might want to read the Workplace Monitoring section in this link:

Yeah I was wondering about this. That link does reference "employees" so maybe I can get away with a simple sign on the door saying you may be recorded on CCTV. Mind you if you see my reply to Simon I think the route I am going for now probably makes it a non issue for now.

Kev

 

[Chemmy]

That sounds a good compromise, Ken - it doesn't have the same Big Brother feeling.

The carers/neighbours/friends probably won't mind as long as you're up front with them and a notice as they come in should do.

I hope I haven't come across as a fusspot here - but I have a good relationship with my elderly neighbours and she often uses me as a sounding board to offload her feelings, including those about her nearest and dearest. WW3 would have started by now if they'd been eavesdropping on some of the conversations but it has helped her by being able to talk freely. Maybe it's a 'girl' thing.

 

[danny]

Hi Kevin, this site might give you some ideas.

http://www.atdementia.org.uk/

 

[tireddaughter]

Camera etc

No probs kev, sounds like a good route to take for you and I hope it works out for you.

As for the carers bit it took us a while to sort it out but we finally have two carers three times a day and two nurses two times a week coming in, we tell all of them the camera is there and they have the choice to turn it around if they wish, only a few of them do but most don't really mind and all have said it is a really good thing, as long as you make people aware of the camera/phone being there I don't think you are breaking any laws (complicated and confusing laws) or any moral standards, unfortunately we live in a world where we get judged by other peoples low morals too often.

Again the carers route was quite tough as unfortunately it all revolves around money and diminishing NHS budgets but if you push hard for it the benefits are worth the struggle and will take more weight from your shoulders, remember you do need to look after yourself as well.

Simon

 

[kevwright]

That sounds a good compromise, Ken - it doesn't have the same Big Brother feeling.

The carers/neighbours/friends probably won't mind as long as you're up front with them and a notice as they come in should do.

Its funny, we just took the phone (well its a Tablet really) round to test and the Granddaughters are round and think its a fantastic idea. They want to know how they can snap a picture, which they can't using this system, makes me wonder all over again if I should do it so we can all use it.

Kev

 

[wenhazed]

just checking

We used the 'just checking' system, we could monitor mum without the use of a camera, social services funded it. Just google it and get the info, we thought it was great.

 

[kevwright]

We used the 'just checking' system, we could monitor mum without the use of a camera, social services funded it. Just google it and get the info, we thought it was great.

Looks interesting. Do you recall the costs?

Kev

 

[jeany123]

Looks interesting. Do you recall the costs?

Kev

You should ask if SS would fund it for you as well Kev ,


Jeany x

 

[sussexsue]

Not wishing to go into the rights or wrongs, but just a couple of thoughts of the technical issues.

I know this is different, but we actually have a web cam set up for our horses, originally so that we could monitor them when they were about to have their foals. At the time we lived a few miles away. We basically had a web cam that attached wirelessly to the internet (fortunately there was internet on site).

We can monitor it from home and move the angle of the camera, although it is obviously quite a restricted range. The software does allow recording if selected. We have no sound attached to it.

Another thought is that at night when it is dark, unless you want to buy an expensive infra red camera you do need a light source (we used a low voltage light with an light sensor to come on automatically). The software runs through a website, our system was panasonic and viewing was through viewnetcam. You basically make your own webpage for viewing. Obviously you can password protect so that only people you want to see it can see it and you can allow them different rights to have control of the camera angle. For foaling we made the web address available to friends so that they could also watch (useful as we had friends in the USA who kindly did the night monitoring for us). It can also be set to motion-activate.

All this was set up 5 years ago, and I am sure technology has progressed since then. For us, we would have lost a mare and foal if we hadnt had it, so you can imagine I am quite a big fan of them.