Over the past year, people living with dementia in Torfaen have been helping to develop an app that could improve the
lives of others and their Carers. The technology aims to support people with the early stages of dementia by helping them
to live at home independently for longer.
The project has been a partnership approach made possible by becoming a semi-finalist of the prestigious Longitude Prize for Dementia. This bought together Age Connects Torfaen and Cardiff Metropolitan University to create the app; MemoryConnect. On the 24th May 2024, MemoryConnect was showcased to a room full of people including Heléna Herklots, Older People’s Commissioner for Wales, Torfaen MS Lynne Neagle and Cllr David Daniels, cabinet member for adult services and housing, at our Widdershins Centre.
Ms Herklots said technology was vital during Covid-19 as people tried “to find ways of holding each other close when we so far apart.” She reminded everyone of the importance of having people affected involved in anything that affects them: “‘Nothing about us, without us’. Always involve people with dementia and people caring with dementia. That’s your guiding
star. “To use a technical term, I was pretty mind-blown by some of what you showed us.”
MemoryConnects had already been shortlisted for the Welsh Tech Awards and the project team will soon present their findings to a panel from the Longitude Prize for Dementia to find out if they make the finals to receive more funding to develop the app further before it could be shared with the public.
