A young boy by the name of Kenneth Shinozuka has created new technology to keep Alzheimer's Patients safe when their nurses may not be able to pay close attention. There are an estimated five million Americans with Alzheimer’s and about sixty percent of them wander off and become lost.
Shinozuke’s desire to help those suffering from Alzheimer’s stems from the love of his grandfather. When Kenneth was just a boy his grandfather, Deming, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and continues to lose his memories. He has even lost the ability to feed himself and walk on his own. Deming lives with Kenneth’s aunt and taking care of her father has become very difficult. Deming will often wander out of bed late at night and has even wandered on to busy highways. In just 6 months of testing the “Safe Wander” on his grandfather’s sock it detected 437 cases of wandering without a false alarm.
The gadget is about the size of a lima bean that attaches to the patient’s sock. A pressure sensor what sits on the bottom of the foot activates when an increase of pressure is added. Then the device will send an alert to a smartphone.
Shinozuke won a $50,000 prize from Scientific American Magazine for their “Science in Action.” Kenneth will also compete in the Google Science Fair in September and dreams of becoming a neuroscientist and specializing in engineering and computer science to attempt to cure Alzheimer’s.
Rob Ughetta is a supporter of the Alzheimer’s Association.
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