Caregivers For Alzheimer's Patients Record Life Stories With Project StoryKeeper

Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Also Included In: Caregivers / Homecare
Article Date: 23 May 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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Project StoryKeeper, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving family heritage and announced that new findings by the Alzheimer's Association are increasing the need to document the life stories of patients. Caregivers of Alzheimer's patients can get access to Project StoryKeeper's interviewing technology by visiting http://www.storykeeper.org.

"The Alzheimer's Association just announced that one in eight Baby Boomers can expect to develop the disease," said Dennis Stack, Founder of Project StoryKeeper. "That means that more and more family histories - and the richness they hold - will be slipping away if we don't do something now to preserve them. We think Project StoryKeeper is a great way for families and caregivers of all ages to use the latest technology to keep family legacies going strong."

Targeted towards caregivers, Project StoryKeeper's online training program includes questions, interviewing techniques, and recording tips to be used in drawing out the personal histories of senior citizens at home or within elder care settings such as hospices, assisted living facilities, and home care agencies.

Capturing life stories - through technology.

Captured stories can be posted and archived on a private family web page on http://www.lifelenz.com. LifeLenz is a family-centric social network designed to enable families to easily preserve their legacy, stay in touch and communicate in ways not possible before. The tools LifeLenz provides allow for caregivers and family members to share in each other's lives through text, audio, video and photographs.

Easy-to-use online communication tool.

Families and caregivers can utilize video and audio messaging on the website, in order to connect with the elderly and those in the early stages of Alzheimer's. Families can gather around the web cam to record, for example, a "Happy Birthday" greeting, the reading of a journal relaying family news, or just a simple "hello" message.

And although the latest technology is being used as the platform for Project StoryKeeper, Stack and his organization have gone out of their way to make it all as easy as possible to use, for both the sender and the recipient.

"As far as the level of difficulty of using our site to communicate, record, and preserve information, it's very simple," said Stack. "It takes only five mouse clicks to either produce a video or watch one."

Individuals wanting more information about Project StoryKeeper can visit http://www.storykeeper.org or http://www.lifelenz.com.

About Project StoryKeeper

Project StoryKeeper's mission is to help preserve family heritage by capturing and sharing the life stories of our country's oldest and wisest members. The organization believes that everyone can benefit from the wealth of experience and wisdom found in each individual, and has acted on the vision to provide easy-to-use audio-biography tools to help everyone contribute to the mission of preserving the past, enriching the present and strengthening the future-one story at a time.

http://www.storykeeper.org