Teenager creates app to help family care for grandmother with dementia

Caring for an elderly family member can be tough. It's even tougher when that person has a progressive condition that affects the brain, like dementia. The memory problems and cognitive hurdles that come with the disease make it incredibly hard to care for family members, who often don't realize that you're just trying to help.  

This is something that Logan Wells knows all too well. Logan was 15 when his grandmother was diagnosed with dementia, and the then-High school student watched as his family struggled to coordinate her care. Logan noticed that the endless phone calls and back and forth between family and paid caregivers looked inefficient. 

With multiple family members and carers on board, and his grandmother still wanting to shop and see friends, and not miss the three-mile daily walks that she loved, it's easy to see how one person might miss out on some important information. 

“I was 15 when my grandmother first got the diagnosis,” the high school senior told the Boston Herald in 2017. “And it was hard to watch my parents and aunt coordinate the care.” 

Logan said that his mother, Haille, and his aunt, had almost all of their free time consumed caring for their mother.

“Her free time was gone – she was always contacting caregivers, getting updates from them, texting, making sure everyone was on the same page,” Logan told Lexington's Colonial Times. 

“When we first started,” said Hallie, who also still works full time for Lexington Public Schools, “there were pieces of paper all over Nannie’s house: the chore chart on the fridge, the calendar on the kitchen counter, the medication check-off.” 

So, Logan decided to do something to help. He created Care­Zare, an app that allows caregivers to create a care team and develop a communication portal for those involved. If the app is updated properly, everyone caring for the elderly patient can see how they're doing with a quick glance at their phone. 

“You see the toll it takes on your parents,” Logan said. “It’s something that’s hard to ignore, something you want to improve.” 

With a general idea for the app in mind, Logan started to teach himself computer coding and spoke to care professionals to get their input on features. Logan's dad, Eric, helped with the programming and helped to market the app. 

“After we did the extent of what we could for programming and marketing, we found a partner who was using the same platform,” Eric said. 

Logan’s twin brother and older sister helped to test the app and reached out to others in the community for advice and professional tips. 

Hallie, Logan’s mother, said that the app helped to unite the family at a particular tough time.

“It’s really fun to get perspective from each other on the same topic,” she said. “Our biggest goal is to ease the stress of the burden of 40-to-60 million caregivers.” 

CareZare, released to the public in 2017, allows users to take on different roles. The person receiving care is the “CareStar.” There's also a "CareCaptain" who acts as an administrator and “CareGivers” who include family, friends, and hired care providers. Users are invited to join the “CareTeam,” that includes everyone involved, including the person being cared for. 

Members can post four different kinds of information: heads up alerts, calendar notifications, tasks, and daily journal entries. Hallie says that this helps caregivers provide the best help they can: “they look at the app and read the recent journal entries and heads up alerts, so if there’s anything significant, they can deal with that.” 

When a carer finishes their shift, they complete a journal entry. This can include anything from the patient's mood,  activities they undertook, any chores or tasks completed, and maybe a general assessment. 

“When we receive these journal entries at the end of the day,” said Hallie, “it’s such a beautiful snapshot – it doesn’t always go well, but all of this is data.”  

Hallie said that the app alerted them to a pattern of her mother refusing to get dressed by 2:00 p.m. and resisting taking showers. With that in mind, the family was able to hire a career who was specialized in dementia care. 

A heads up alert sent from the app to Hallie via a text message alerted her that her mother's washing machine had broken. She was able to use the app to let the next carer know to expect a visit from a plumber. 

Lisa Wells, Hallie's sister, is in charge of her mother's medical needs. She says that the app allows her to take notes from doctors and share them with everyone. When one of her mother's prescriptions are changed, she can post it in the app once rather than having to get in touch with five different people. 

CareZare is available for free on both iOS and Android thanks to some generous sponsors.