Poltics
PENNY* JOHNSON used to be disturbed when she grew to develop into to blame for a family friend suffering with dementia – and quick realised he used to be falling victim to scams on a favorite foundation.
Penny took in neighbour Michael, who she had known for 50 years, when his neatly being began to deteriorate after being diagnosed with dementia and Alzheimer’s.
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Mike’s neatly being deteriorated after his wife died, leaving him distraught.
“That was really when I got involved. Up until then I popped in to see them every now and again and we led different lives, but when Jane died, she asked me if I would look after Mike,” she talked about.
“But things started to deteriorate and he was soon being scammed by people coming to the door and trying to lay a new driveway, he would lose his keys and he had a few rogue locksmiths.
“Then, a pair of years within the past, he began getting some quite indecent rip-off phone calls, take care of trying to discover him to pay his gas and electricity.
Extra on money
“We looked together at his bank statement and realised money was coming out left right and centre – several thousand pounds had disappeared.”
It used to be then that Penny regarded into how she could possibly maybe discover support conserving Mike’s funds.
She contacted charity The Alzheimer’s Society, and they steered a recent create of card by a company referred to as Sister.
Sibstar is a debit card and app for folks with dementia and their carers. It permits the carer to support prepare the person they are caring for’s each and every-day spending.
So, if the person makes a transaction, the carer can review it and choose out within the event that they are being taken perfect thing about, or are overspending by chance.
“From then, when Mike tried to give out his card details, it didn’t work,” Penny talked about.
“For example, he was charged £57 for a trip that should have only cost him £5 or £6 – but I got a notification from the Sibstar app, and I realised he had been overcharged by mistake.
“He would now not absorb realised that, but I used to be ready to sort it out for him.”
With Sibstar, you can also switch off the ability to withdraw from an ATM, as that is a classic way scammers target people for their cash.
“If he wants money, I rob him to the ATM and we are able to drag and discover some if he wants it,” Penny said.
“We saved the contactless so he will even be impartial and kill his private browsing, but now we absorb blocked utilizing it on-line, which is the build he lost hundreds of kilos.”
Poltics What is Sibstar?
Sibstar was created by Jane Sibley, who watched her own mum suffer from dementia and start erratically spending her money.
She would forget she’d bought things, accidentally overspend, and would even withdraw large amounts of money several times away and hand them out to people on the street.
The CEO of Sibstar, who lives in Southampton wanted to create something to help prevent this while allowing the personal with dementia the dignity to remain financially independent.
“It is critical that of us with dementia stay financially included on this planet and absorb the monetary tools to permit them to kill that,” she talked about.
Ms Sibley presented her belief on TV point to Dragon’s Den earlier this yr, the build she won a £125,000 funding into rising the industry.
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Dragons’ Den investors, Sara Davies and Deborah Meaden backed the industry, announcing it could possibly maybe “rework lives”.
The business is now backed by the Alzheimer’s Society, which signposts people to its cards.
To use the card and app, there is a £4.99 card set-up fee, and a £4.99 monthly subscription fee.
Withdrawals from an ATM with the card also cost 99p.
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However, Sibstar’s website says 7.5% of this goes back to the Alzheimer’s Society.
*Name changed on request
Is it ageing or dementia?
Dementia – the most common form of which is Alzheimer’s – comes on slowly over time.
As the disease progresses, symptoms can become more severe.
But at the beginning, the symptoms can be subtle or mistaken for normal memory issues related to ageing.
The US National Institute on Aging gives some examples of what is considered normal forgetfulness in old age, and dementia disease.
You can refer to these above.
For example, it is normal for an ageing person to forget which word to use from time-to-time, but difficulting having conversation would be more indicative of dementia.
Katie Puckering, Head of Alzheimer’s Research UK’s Information Services team, previously told The Sun: “We quite commonly as humans put our car keys somewhere out of the ordinary and it takes longer for us to find them.
“As you get older, it takes longer for you to recall, or you really have to think; What was I doing? Where was I? What distracted me? Was it that I had to let the dog out? And then you find the keys by the back door.
“That process of retrieving the information is just a bit slower in people as they age.
“In dementia, someone may not be able to recall that information and what they did when they came into the house.
“What may also happen is they might put it somewhere it really doesn’t belong. For example, rather than putting the milk back in the fridge, they put the kettle in the fridge.”
