Struggling with everyday tasks due to Parkinson's? Take back control and achieve "Everyday Wins" with assistive technology!
This episode of Live Parkinson's Live an Exceptional Life dives into the world of Parkinson's Power Tools - assistive technologies designed to empower you and make daily living easier. We'll explore a range of tools to tackle common challenges, from managing tremors to improving mobility and medication reminders.
Join us as we:
Discuss the latest and greatest assistive technologies
Learn how these tools can transform your daily routine
Discover resources to help you find and afford the right tech for your needs
Living well with Parkinson's is possible, and with the right tools, you can achieve amazing things. Tune in and reclaim your independence!
Visit Liveparkinsons .com to Subscribe to the Free Monthly Newsletter and Get FREE resources to help on your Parkinson's Journey. Visit the Live Parkinson's You Tube channel for videos to help you in your daily life. Please subscribe if you like the content.
Get my book Spectacular Life for information on Living with Parkinson's.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only is not intended to treat or diagnose Parkinson's Disease. Please ensure that you are following the treatment plan developed by your doctor. Please ensure before starting anything new you get approval from your doctor. The information being provided is based on my own personal experiences and does not guarantee that it will benefit everyone.
Struggling with everyday tasks due to Parkinson's? Take back control and achieve "Everyday Wins" with assistive technology!
This episode of Live Parkinson's Live an Exceptional Life dives into the world of Parkinson's Power Tools - assistive technologies designed to empower you and make daily living easier. We'll explore a range of tools to tackle common challenges, from managing tremors to improving mobility and medication reminders.
Join us as we:
Discuss the latest and greatest assistive technologies
Learn how these tools can transform your daily routine
Discover resources to help you find and afford the right tech for your needs
Living well with Parkinson's is possible, and with the right tools, you can achieve amazing things. Tune in and reclaim your independence!
Visit Liveparkinsons .com to Subscribe to the Free Monthly Newsletter and Get FREE resources to help on your Parkinson's Journey. Visit the Live Parkinson's You Tube channel for videos to help you in your daily life. Please subscribe if you like the content.
Get my book Spectacular Life for information on Living with Parkinson's.
Disclaimer: This podcast is for educational purposes only is not intended to treat or diagnose Parkinson's Disease. Please ensure that you are following the treatment plan developed by your doctor. Please ensure before starting anything new you get approval from your doctor. The information being provided is based on my own personal experiences and does not guarantee that it will benefit everyone.
Hello and welcome to Live Parkinson's Live an Exceptional Life. I'm your host, chris Kastenbotter, and I've been living an exceptional life with Parkinson's for the past 14 years. The objective of this podcast is to help as many people living with Parkinson's as possible lead a great quality of life. Now, today's topic is Parkinson's Power Tools assistive tools for everyday wins. Tremor's got you wrestling your breakfast cereal. Can't button your shirt without feeling like an octopus trying to tie its shoes. Parkinson's Power Tools is your toolbox for fighting back. We'll show you some ingenious assistive technologies that will make you say why didn't I think of that? It's time to outsmart Parkinson's and win back control of your day. So what exactly are we going to be exploring in this episode? Well, I'm glad you asked and thank you for that. This podcast will be divided into three segments. In segment one, we'll explore common challenges and detail the assistive devices you can use to overcome these common challenges. We'll examine freezing of gait, tremors and coordination, stiffness and rigidity, balance and falls, and for each of these there are specific devices to help us take back control. And then, in segment two, we'll look at technology for daily living, for all the techies out there. And then, in segment three, I'll provide some real-life feedback from people using assistive devices. So if you're ready to quit feeling like an octopus trying to tie their shoes, then you're on the right bus. So let's get rolling and discuss how you can take your life back with these assistive devices.
Speaker 1:
Let me start out by asking a question. Here's where I'm hoping you. So let's get rolling and discuss how you can take your life back with these assistive devices. Let me start out by asking a question. Here's where I'm hoping you can help me out. I use Buzzsprout to help me host my podcast, and they've recently added a new feature in the top of the description that says send us a text message. So back to my question Do you use assistive devices to help you in your daily life? If so, which ones? I'd love for you to hit the send us a text message link in the podcast description and let me know. It gets awful lonely here behind the microphone and I'd love to hear from you. I'd love to hear what some of your challenges and some of your success stories are, and some of your success stories are All right.
Speaker 1:
Let's dive into Parkinson's power tools and how they can help you improve your quality of life. Let's start with looking at common challenges we all face living with Parkinson's and the assistive solutions we can use to improve our daily life. After all, ultimately, that's what it's all about using whatever tools and assistance available to help us live our best lives. Let's begin with the most common challenges most people living with Parkinson's face. We'll start with tremors and coordination. I'll also add in fine motor skills, because it's one of the ones that I personally struggle with and I'm sure many of you do as well.
Speaker 1:
Now, if you have Parkinson's and experience tremors, you know that it's difficult to do simple things like holding a fork or spoon steady while you're trying to eat or trying to use a knife to cut your food. You know it's very difficult when your hands are shaking and you're trying to keep your food on your fork or on your spoon. And then there's the challenges of trying to drink from a cup or a mug when we're shaking and spilling our drink everywhere. So for the coffee drinkers out there, I'm sure you can verify that there's nothing more enjoyable than spilling hot coffee or tea on yourself because your hands are shaking. Of course, I'm kidding. So how do we address this problem? Well, fortunately we have some creative minds who develop some utensils that can help us overcome our problems with tremors while we're eating, and let me introduce you to weighted utensils and rocker knives.
Speaker 1:
So what are they? Well, let's start with weighted utensils. Weighted utensils look like regular forks, spoons and knives, but they have added weight in their handles. These utensils are specifically designed to address motor symptoms caused by Parkinson's, including tremors, weakness, stiffness and poor coordination. Yep, they're speaking my language. They provide two major benefits Stability the added weight helps keep the utensils stable even if you're handshaking due to tremor and improved grip the weighted handles provide proprio-receptive feedback and it makes it easier to grip the utensils. So it's your brain talking to your hand. I do not personally own a set of weighted utensils, but I did have the opportunity to try them at one of the Parkinson's conferences that I attended. I found them very easy to use and they were effective in helping me when I was experiencing tremors. I guess I've just been a little stubborn and have been putting off purchasing a set Until now. I think I'm going to go ahead and order a set and I should practice what I preach.
Speaker 1:
Weighted utensils include, like I mentioned before, forks, spoons and knives with weighted handles. And that brings us to our next utensil, which is rocker knives. They're also known as curved blade knives, and they have a unique design with a curved blade that allows them to rock back and forth. They're designed to make cutting food easier for people with limited hand strength, poor coordination and tremors. I think I fit the bill on all those. So why use a rocker knife? Well, they're efficient at cutting your food and the rocking motion of the knife reduces the effort required to cut through your food, and the curved blade provides stability when cutting your food. Now, to be honest, I have not tried the rocker knife personally, but I have a friend who has good success using it.
Speaker 1:
Now that we've looked at some of the weighted utensils to help us eat when we have tremors, I wanted to touch on another part of our daily life that is often affected by tremors, and that's text and writing. Besides my writing getting worse because it's getting smaller and oftentimes it's illegible, I try to write too fast, and when I do that, I can't read what I wrote. I often have difficulty when I go to the store and I tried to write too fast and I get there and I can't read my own handwriting. So one of the ways I've found to help me with my handwriting when I have tremors is using a weighted pen with an adaptive grip.
Speaker 1:
I attended a Parkinson's symposium at the University of Maryland about two years ago and prior to the session starting, I walked around and talked to the vendors, who had booths set up outside, and they're there to share their information on their products and the benefits their products or services can help with people with Parkinson's. So I was talking to the Amniel pharmaceutical rep about one of the drugs that I take to manage my motor symptoms and when I was done asking questions, the rep gave me a pen and told me to try it when I was experiencing tremors. Now the pen had a soft rubber grip at the end with three indents one for my thumb, one for my middle and index fingers and I noticed it felt heavier in my hand because, of course, it was weighted. So I took her advice and used a pen when I was experiencing tremors and it definitely helped me keep the pen from shaking and causing my handwriting to be illegible. And the soft rubber grips also allowed me to hold on and control the pen a lot better than when I was using a standard pen. So if you have trouble writing when you're having tremors. The weighted pen really helped me and I would highly recommend it.
Speaker 1:
So, now that we've looked at some utilitaries that can help us eat and help us write, let's take a look at and turn our attention to, a problem I hear a lot of people have issues with when they have tremors, and that's using a cell phone. In fact, at the last University of Maryland Parkinson's Symposium, they actually had a panel discussion and this was one of the topics that they discussed because it was such a problem for most of the people in the audience. Now, if you have time, please let me know if this is a problem for you and how you go about getting around this challenge. Again, if you could just go on to the podcast description and click text me a message in the podcast description, I'd love to hear how you get around this problem.
Speaker 1:
Now, in case you weren't aware, there are a couple of great tools that you can use to help you get around the problem of trying to type a text or dial a number when your hands are shaking. I know it's especially when I'm trying to type a text. It ends up being something totally different than what I intended because I can't keep my hands straight and I keep hitting all kinds of different buttons, so it can become very frustrating. There are a few options that we can use to get around that. One is speech recognition software and the other is voice-activated controls. Now what are we talking about when we're talking about speech recognition software? Well, it's a technology that converts our spoken language into written text. So for people with Parkinson's that are experiencing tremors, speech recognition can be a great tool when you're using your cell phone. Let's look at some of the ways you can use speech recognition and voice-activated controls on your phone. Now, if you haven't tried any of these yet, they're lifesavers and can be used when tremors are not interfering with the use of the cell phone.
Speaker 1:
Now, the first voice-activated control is voice-activated dialing. You can call someone in your phone book or contact list simply by saying the person's name. I use this one all the time. When I call my brother Bud, I just say call Bud and it starts dialing and starts calling Bud, and next thing, you know, like magic, bud answers the phone. In a landline number, the soft voice may come on and say Bud sell or Bud home. So if you haven't tried it, I highly recommend it Now.
Speaker 1:
Second, you can use voice activated controls and speech software to dictate and do web searches. And the third one I use all the time, and that is voice activated controls to send text messages and emails. Wait what? You can use voice to send text messages, absolutely Now. I find it to be the quickest and easiest way for sending text messages. You can even respond to a text message while you're driving simply by using your voice, so you can keep your hands on the wheel, your focus on the road and respond quickly to a text message.
Speaker 1:
The voice activation and the speech software let me do that. So let me give you an example of how I use it. So picture this I'm at the grocery store and, as usual, chris forgot to bring the list of what he was supposed to get. But after going home several times from the store and forgetting the main thing I went for, I've learned to text message my wife for the list. And it goes something like this I'll say, hey, siri, and I have an iPhone. And Siri says uh-huh. And I say can you text Mary? And say can you tell me what was on the list for the store? And she types the message and reads it back to you then says are you ready to send it? And I say yes and voila, the message is sent, and then I get a new message back, just like magic. So what will they think of next? Finally, you can use voice commands to open apps, record notes and do a host of other tasks. So if you haven't tried voice-activated controls, please do. They're going to not only save you time, but they're going to help you with the frustration that comes with struggling to type on the cell phone or the iPad or the tablet. And in addition to Siri, amazon has Alexa, which is another voice-activated software you can use, and that is available on most computers as well.
Speaker 1:
Now that we've discussed some tools to help with tremors, let's move on to our next set of daily challenges stiffness and rigidity. Now, stiffness and rigidity can make it hard to get dressed in the morning. Whether it be trying to button buttons, putting your shoes on and socks on, or bending over to pick things up, our friend's stiffness and rigidity are always lurking, trying to make it even more difficult to get ready in the morning. Fortunately, there are tools we can use to overcome these challenges. So let's start in the bathroom, because usually we go into the bathroom before we start to get dressed. So let's start there and look at some assistive aids that are available to help, and these include shower chairs, grab bars and elevated toilet seats. We're not talking exciting things here, so please bear with me Now.
Speaker 1:
Shower chairs provide a stable seat for individuals during bathing and reduce the risk of falls. Now, both my wife and I have used a shower chair after we broke one of the bones in our lower leg, and the shower chair made it a lot easier because I wasn't constantly in fear of falling because I couldn't put a lot of weight on the leg that I had a cast on, so I'm not doing damage to myself. So if you have trouble with balance, shower chairs are a great option. Now, why would a person with Parkinson's use a shower chair? Well, it enables the person to sit while showering to avoid standing for extended periods of time, so this can help you manage when you're stiff and help you maintain your balance.
Speaker 1:
Now our next bathroom accessory is grab bars, which most of you have seen, and they're just designed to offer support and stability. And where should you use grab bars? In the shower or tub and in any setting where you need to be able to pull yourself up. They're going to be very helpful in helping you stand up and overcome stiffness and any stability problems you may have. And then, finally, everyone's personal favorite, the elevated toilet seat. Now, these raised seats are designed to make it easier to sit down and stand up from the toilet. Now, while I've seen them, I haven't actually tried them, so I can't provide any personal insight on how much of an improvement they provide.
Speaker 1:
So, now that we've used the bathroom and some of the accessories to help us overcome stiffness and rigidity, let's look at some tools that we can use to help us get dressed when stiffness and rigidity are making it tough on us. So we'll start with dressing. Which the aids include? Button loopers, zipper pullers and shoelace aids. Personally, when I'm around the house, I wear Skechers memory foam slip-on shoes, so I don't have to worry about tying my shoes. I just slip my feet in and slip my feet out. It's a wonderful thing, because when I have poor dexterity or my fingers are stiff, there's nothing like not having to tie my shoes. So what are button loopers? Button loopers assist with buttoning your shirts. And then zipper pullers make zipping pants and jackets easier. So a lot of times it's a zipper extender that you can grab and it makes it easier to pull up. These aids are really useful for overcoming stiffness and rigidity issues and when you're having problems with dexterity.
Speaker 1:
Now, how many of you have trouble putting your socks on? Well, guess what? There's help out there. Sock aids help to prevent, help put on socks without bending over. They consist of a flexible frame with handles and a fabric sleeve for the sock. So you place the sock on the sleeve, slide your foot in and use the handles to pull the sock up. And sock aids are particularly useful when experiencing stiffness or mobility problems.
Speaker 1:
Finally, reachers and grabbers these are tools that can help us extend our arms without bending or stretching, and they can help us pick up things that we dropped on the floor, like our socks. Or we can help us pick up clothes off the floor. Or they can help us reach up into a cabinet and get a shirt or a sweater that we don't have to reach for and overextend and have the possibility of falling. They're designed also to help prevent overexertion and pain from doing some of the daily tasks. Now, some of you may be wondering why I spent time on what seemed like basic bathing and dressing accessories. Well, I think it's important that we remember the ultimate objective is to help people stay independent for as long as possible, for both our own personal well-being and reducing the burden on caregivers. So anything that we can use to help us do that is going to be of a great benefit.
Speaker 1:
With that said, let's address other common symptoms and obstacles many people with Parkinson's face, and the next one we're going to talk about is freezing of gait. So what is freezing of gait? It's the temporary, involuntary ability to move, often making the person feel like they're stuck or glued to the ground. Now, freezing of gait can occur during walking, transitions, turning or when you're encountering obstacles. Now, I often say my brain is telling my feet to move, but they don't want to cooperate. So it can be a frustrating experience, but I try to use some humor in there when I can to help alleviate the situation and break the ice sometimes.
Speaker 1:
So what are some of the tools that we can use to help with freezing? Well, the first one is the standard walking or trekking poles. They can give us stability and support during walking and they help provide balance and reduce the risk of falling. Now, walking poles help not only with stability, but they can increase your confidence as well. And let me give you a personal example. I love to fly fish. I've been fly fishing for 45 years, but trying to do it with Parkinson's can be a real challenge. In fact, without using my walking poles, I probably would have to give it up something that I love doing poles I probably would have to give it up something that I love doing. The walking poles give me the stability that I need to be able to fish and help ensure that I don't fall, so I highly recommend them. Now I use a collapsible kind that you can telescope down, which makes it easier to travel with and easy to use. Now, another assistive device that people can use is what they call laser cues, and they involve projecting a visible laser line on the ground ahead of the person while they're walking. The person focuses on stepping over the laser line, which provides a visual cue for movement.
Speaker 1:
And then, finally, I want to talk about the third type, and that's rhythmic auditory stimulation devices, and what they do is they play rhythmic sounds like a metronome beat, like click, click, click, click, to a steady beat through headphones while someone is walking, and what that does is the auditory cues, or the beats, help synchronize your steps and help encourage a regular walking rhythm, and research suggests that auditory cues decrease the frequency of freezing and help both your gait speed and your stride length. Now I can personally vouch for auditory stimulation in helping with freezing. If you talk to my wife or my friends, I wear gloves, earbuds a lot, I mean a lot, and the reason I tell my wife and friends I do it is to help me with my walking. I listen to music and when I'm walking the constant beat helps me with my walking and a lot of times when I don't have it, I have more difficulty with my walking. So if you have trouble with freezing or gait issues, I highly recommend listening to music while you walk, something with a nice steady beat. But before you do that, make sure you check with your doctor first to make sure it's appropriate for you, because it definitely has helped me with my walking.
Speaker 1:
Now I wanted to share with you a really fascinating device that I saw during a TED Talk. There was a woman who had an uncle with Parkinson's and during her presentation she mentioned that she admired her uncle growing up and wanted to help make his life better and the life of people with Parkinson's better. One of the things she developed is a coffee cup with a rim so he wouldn't spill his coffee or tea when he was drinking it. And she mentioned that her uncle used a walker and he had hunched over and had shuffled his feet and had a lot of difficulty walking and he was experiencing freezing. So she said to him what do you do when you come to the stairs? And her uncle said well, I walk down the stairs. She says I don't believe that, show me.
Speaker 1:
So she showed a video during her presentation of her uncle shuffling up to the top of the stairs with his walker, uncle shuffling up to the top of the stairs with his walker. And when he got to the top of the stairs he set his walker aside and he walked right down the steps, turned around and walked right back up the steps. Now her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe it. So she took what she saw that day and she designed a 3D mat that when you rolled out on the floor it looks like a set of stairs. And she ran a little experiment. She placed the mat on the floor and had her uncle walk up to it and she wanted to see what he would do when he approached the mat. So it shows him. He used his walker and he slowly shuffled to the mat. And when he got to the mat, he did something very interesting he picked up his walker and he walked across the mat as just as if he was walking down the stairs. It was fascinating and I'll link it in the podcast description because it's just something fascinating to watch how a person with Parkinson's and your mind works and how you can overcome challenges based on visual cues. So I wanted to share that with you because I think that's something that could be beneficial. And on top of that, there's so many things being developed that can make our lives easier.
Speaker 1:
And let's turn our attention now to some of the accessories that can help us with our balance and help reduce the risk of falls. Balance is one of the areas I work on every day to help reduce the risk of falls. In fact, I did a YouTube short on balance exercises and I've written a long blog post on libparkinsonscom on the 10 balance exercises to do to improve your balance and help prevent falls. And, if you're interested, if you visit my website libparkinsonscom, you can sign up for the free nine daily exercises to improve your balance guide. These are exercises to help you improve your balance and reduce the risk of falls.
Speaker 1:
All right, stepping off my soapbox for now, let's take a look at some of the devices to help you with your balance and reduce the risk of falls. All right, stepping off my soapbox for now, let's take a look at some of the devices to help you with your balance and preventing falls, starting with canes, which provide stability and support during walking, and there's several types of canes, believe it or not. There's the straight canes, which are just a single point cane which usually has a rubber tip on the bottom for grip, and they can work well with people with Parkinson's to help provide stability. Now, for additional stability, they make what they call quad canes, which is a four-pronged base, and, as you know, the stronger the base, the more stability and balance you have. Sometimes canes are discouraged for people with Parkinson's because they can cause an imbalance by causing you to use one side of your body, and sometimes they can get caught in furniture or some other obstacle. Now, I personally use walking poles when I need added stability to help me.
Speaker 1:
Now the next step up from canes are walkers, and they offer more stability and, believe it or not, there's a number of different types of walkers that are available to help you if you're having trouble with your balance and stability. The first is the U-Step 2 walking stabilizer, and that has a unique U-shaped base frame, an innovative braking system and a laser line projection to help prevent freezing. Now, the benefit of this one is it's Medicare approved and provides protection from falls. Now, my mom, who has dementia which I talked about in one of my previous podcasts and needs help with her balance on walking, uses this type of walker and she's had great success with it. It's very stable and it has a seat where she can actually sit on the seat too if she becomes tired. Now another type is called the UpWalker Large Posture Walker, and this has adjustable armrests to help support and enhance stability, and it's designed for Parkinson's patients who struggle with walking. So essentially, it's a walker that you stand up in and you walk.
Speaker 1:
The next one are rollator walkers, and they usually have four wheels, with a brake and a seat if needed for a person to sit and rest, and my dad uses a rollator to help him with his balance when he's getting around in the assisted living facility. And then, finally, you have the easy fold-and-go walker, which typically doesn't have wheels that you're supposed to lift and place down while you're stepping. A lot of people will just slide them up the floor. Now, one of the things I wanted to point out it's very important that you have a physical therapist, or a person certified, that you consult them and have them recommend a walker that's designed for your specific needs. So please consult them before purchasing anything, and they're going to help you both with your adjustments and they're going to show you how to properly use the walker, because part of the problem is sometimes people stand too far back from the walker and are hunched over, which can lead to falls, and so there's a proper technique that you use, and it's important that you work with a physical therapist or another certified medical professional to help you with that. Another assistive tool to help with balance is gait belts, and they help give caregivers the assistance by helping. They can grab the gait belt and help the person with Parkinson's to stand up. And then, finally, fall detectors are devices that detect falls and let caregivers or emergency services know that someone has fallen, and these are used if you fall frequently and should be recommended by a healthcare professional.
Speaker 1:
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Speaker 1:
Moving on to our final segment, let's look at some of the technologies for daily living, and we'll look at four categories smart home devices medication reminders and pill organizers with alarms, of course, wearable fitness trackers and communication aids. So let's start out with some really cool technology, while I don't have it installed in my house yet, but I am working on it in my free time, which is very limited right now. But I did set up my parents' house before they had to move into assisted living and it really helped them in their daily life. So let's look at some of the smart devices, and I want you to keep in mind that, just because we're talking about smart devices and technology, don't let that scare you. Most are easy to install yourself or will set themselves up through a supporting device like Alexa.
Speaker 1:
So let's start with voice-controlled lighting. Now, voice-controlled lighting systems allow you to control lights using voice commands. They're particularly useful for people with mobility challenges. So, for instance, you come home and you say Alexa, turn on the kitchen and living room lights and voila, the lights turn on. Now, an example of this is the Philips Hue smart bulbs, which can be controlled using platforms like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant. You can use voice commands to adjust the color brightness and even set schedules.
Speaker 1:
Another option is voice-controlled thermostats. These thermostats let you adjust the temperature using voice commands. Now, honestly, how cool is that these temperatures make it easier for people like myself, with dexterity issues, trying to push the small buttons on the thermostat, to be able to change the temperature without having to play around with buttons? Now, an example would be the Honeywell Wi-Fi Smart Programmable Thermostat with voice control, which allows you to change settings remotely and adjust the temperature by simply speaking. Finally, yes, believe it or not, it's no longer science fiction, but you can purchase voice-controlled appliances. This includes various household appliances that can be operated with voice commands. Examples would include Amazon Echo Show or Google Nest Hub, which can control compatible appliances like coffee makers, fans and even kitchen appliances. You can ask them to brew a cup of coffee, turn on a fan, set a timer.
Speaker 1:
Now, as a suggestion, if you decide to use these technologies, pick products that help you with your specific needs and preferences. Now, let's move on to everyone's favorite you with your specific needs and preferences. Now let's move on to everyone's favorite medications and medication reminders. Now, one of the things I've been using that lasts several years to make my life easier is a prepackaged pill pack that I get from my local pharmacy. Now I take five different medications and they package them in daily doses as prescribed by my doctor, so they come in a monthly pack of four, and I take medication five times a day. So each strip, then, would have five individual pill packs with the required medication and dosage, and they're all labeled on the back morning, mid-morning, noon, afternoon and evening so that I know which pills I'm supposed to take at what particular time.
Speaker 1:
Now many pharmacies offer this service, so check online for pharmacies who do them in your area. Now mine's a free service. Some may charge a small fee to do it. I know Amazon also makes pill packs that people can use as well. Other medication reminders include weekly pill boxes that you fill yourself and use. You know the colored boxes to differentiate the different times of the day pills are to be taken.
Speaker 1:
Electronic medication reminders include watches and alarms that make a sound or vibrate at set times to remind people to take their medications. Finally, pill splitters are helpful for dividing pills that are double the needed dosage. So maybe it's cheaper to get those type of pills and divide them yourself, and that would be, so you can use that to help split the pill in half. An example of a specific product designed for people with Parkinson's is the Tabtime Super 8 Timed Pill Dispenser, which has up to eight daily alarms, a flashing red LED light and an easy, open magnetic catch for people with weak or shaking hands. Now remember to use an occupational therapist to help you design a system that works best for you.
Speaker 1:
Now the next type of device I won't spend too much time on, because I have a separate podcast on wearable technologies, and they can play a big role in managing your health and your Parkinson's. I have an Apple Watch and I use it to help me track my activity levels, my heart rate, my sleep patterns and take notes and things that I can share with the doc. So I'm not saying that that's something you should have, I'm just saying that I personally that's what I particularly use to help me with my Parkinson's journey. And then, finally, communication aids, which include video chat. Devices like Zoom and FaceTime make it easier for people with Parkinson's to communicate with loved ones. The other is the speech-to-text that we talked about earlier in the podcast. All right, friends, that's all the time we have for Parkinson's power tools.
Speaker 1:
Remember, you're not alone in the fight. Here are some ways that you can keep winning every single day. Visit liveparkinsonscom and sign up for the free resources that are available and visit the resource page, where I'm going to share a list of some of the recommended assistive technologies that you can use, as well as organizations that support these technologies, and then please subscribe to this podcast. We have weekly episodes packed with information to help you live a great quality of life. Most importantly, share this episode with anyone in your life who might benefit from Parkinson's power tools. Remember knowledge is power and together we can make a difference is power and together we can make a difference. Also, please visit liveparkinsonscom and sign up for the free resources. Thanks for joining us and remember with the right tools and a positive attitude, you can achieve amazing things.