Family reflections from the Supersense Technologies pilot

Supersense Technologies hub installed in the home.

Supersense Technologies is working closely with pioneering families across the East of England as part of our research pilot, helping us fine-tune and enhance our service. Today, we’re honoured to introduce Lucy and her mum, one of our first pilot families. Their willingness to share their journey through the ups and downs of dementia, alongside their experience with Supersense Technologies, has been invaluable in shaping the future of our offering. Here, Lucy and her mum share their story:

We have been using the Supersense Technologies service since December 2023. Both Mum and I were keen to help to test a service that could help others in the future. Mum was also enthused when she learned that a friend of hers was using the service. It has been really helpful and gives my siblings and I peace of mind. In particular, it enables us to give Mum support where it is needed most.

Our story

Mum was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2022, following a few years of noticeable symptoms. The isolation Mum experienced, living alone through the COVID lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 had also markedly exacerbated the decline in her cognitive function. 

Getting a diagnosis was a great relief for us. It meant Mum could be prescribed medications to slow the progress of symptoms and we could confidently seek further support. Local charities, such as Caring Together and Age UK, had a wealth of knowledge. Indeed, I met a lady from Age UK who was instrumental in providing information to get Mum onto the Community Warden round. Mum was able to have the area warden phone every morning to check that she was OK and to have a visit at home once a week for a chat.

Alzheimer’s challenges

However, we were still encountering challenges. Working out how much support Mum needs has been a continuous learning curve. The most important thing for Mum is for her to keep her independence as much as possible and to be allowed to make informed decisions about her own care. She is, understandably, hesitant about accepting anyone other than family coming in to help her.  

Alzheimer’s disease obviously affects memory, and this has led to Mum needing additional support with managing her meds and prompts to regularly eat and drink. My siblings and I also worry about things like her being warm enough during the day and overnight, and whether she is getting a good night’s sleep.

How Supersense Technologies helped

The family has come together to each play a part in supporting Mum, either by directly helping her at home, making and taking her to appointments, taking her out to visit friends, making social visits at home, getting food shopping, arranging gardening, repairs and adaptations etc. We use a family WhatsApp group to keep in touch and organise everything.

Now that we have the Supersense Technologies system running through WhatsApp, we are able to feel peace of mind even when we are unable to be with her. When we see Mum, the information we get from the system’s messages enables us to use our time effectively to support her where it is needed most, giving us the extra space to enjoy our time together. After it was installed, Mum has hardly taken any notice of the Supersense Technologies sensor box. I thought she might keep asking what it was, but she completely disregards it.

In our pilot service, carers receive personalised updates on trends and changes in the home through WhatsApp.

The system is able to inform us of changes to overnight and morning activity, which we were then able to investigate. We’ve had times when Mum has gone back to bed or had got up late because she was feeling out of sorts, and this was important to know. Knowing whether Mum had had a restless night, indicating that something might be amiss either physically or emotionally, has enabled us to gently prompt a discussion with her and to help to get things back to normal. We were also able to personalise the system setup to give us confirmation that she was warm enough at night, a particular worry for us, especially in colder weather.The system even alerted us to an unusually long use of water over and above that which Mum uses for drinks or washing. On investigation, it turned out that Mum’s toilet had been continuously filling, which we were quickly able to fix.  

Recently, I was able to advocate for Mum when tailoring visits from a private care company. She didn’t want too many visits and the information from the system allowed us to target private care to support Mum where it was most effective and at a cost that she was comfortable with. We were able to give reassurance to other family members and to the private care company that Mum did not need care in the mornings at present. This was crucial because it allowed her to make her own decision and tackle the difficult introduction of professional care in a way that preserved Mum’s independence as much as possible and allowed her to feel more in control of her life. It has been so hard for her to relinquish responsibility for things to others and we witness her upset about that on a daily basis. Her emotional state greatly affects her cognitive function, which quickly deteriorates if she feels stressed about her situation. We are able to reassure Mum that she is independent in, or can direct, more aspects of her life than she sometimes feels and that she is managing despite her memory loss, with input from available sources.

Peace of mind

We are really pleased we decided to give the Supersense Technologies system a go. It has given us peace of mind that Mum is up and about in the mornings, and no need to rush to immediately check on her unless there has been an abnormal pattern of activity. It helps us to target daily visits to the times when they are most needed and to give Mum space to maintain independence getting up and getting her breakfast in her own time.

A heartfelt thank you to Lucy and her family for sharing their story and for their continued trust in Supersense Technologies. If you’d like to learn more about how our service can support your family, or to join our waiting list for the next phase of our rollout, please get in touch—we’d love to hear from you.