Remembrance wins Rep. Mary Peltola’s 2024 Congressional App Challenge in Alaska’s At-Large District

When asked what inspired the creation of Remembrance, the student said, “I got the idea for my app,”Remembrance” from watching my grandmother work with my grandfather. My grandfather (Papa) has dementia and is finding it increasingly difficult to remember people and orient himself to social situations when family and friends come to visit.  Common settings such as holidays and birthday get-togethers can be challenging for him.  He often gets confused as to why people have come to the house and becomes agitated. He will recognize family members, intermittently having his good days and his bad days.  My grandmother has found that reviewing family photos and pictures from similar social situations with Papa prior to people visiting or other social events makes a big difference in Papa’s ability to recognize people. It also improves his ability to interact and enjoy activities.  She would reminisce with him, remembering associated family stories and past events. Later that day, he was much more likely to recognize people and be happy to see them.   

My grandmother explained how what she was doing was similar to how people use memory books to help orient dementia patients and remind them of their past, but in her case she uses the pictures to make a temporary memory experience that is customized to a particular day and situation.  She also explained to me how even though she felt going over the pictures helped Papa a lot, gathering the pictures together for different situations could be exhausting.  She would pull pictures from old boxes of photos, along with photo albums as well as bring in framed photos from other parts of the house. When she was done with the photos she would then have to also put them away.  She pointed out that sometimes the photos were too small for Papa to see well. 

I realized that a phone app could be very helpful for her.  The phone’s camera would make it easy to make a copy of the pictures she wanted to use whether they were hanging on the wall, in a photo album or in a box of old family photos. Once in the phone’s memory, photos could be organized into different categories to be used in different situations.  Furthermore, by using standard casting devices, the photos could be displayed on a big screen television making them easier to see for Papa and allowing for more family members to reminisce with Papa.”