Eleni

Name

Eleni

Age

Country

Greece

Area

urban

Life course

retired person

Need

Chronic conditions and / or social needs

Connectivity

broadband, smart phone

Eleni is a retired civil servant, divorced, and lives alone in an urban area with no family living nearby. Recently, to her frustration, she has been having episodes of memory loss (early stage dementia) and her energy levels have been dropping. She is also under treatment for high blood pressure. She is currently being monitored by her doctor and by the staff in the nearest municipal elderly care facility. She also has regular check-ups with a hospital neurologist. Eleni follows a home-based programme of cognitive and physical activities because services from a Dementia Day Centre are not available in her town. Eleni also tends to forget her medication and she is worried about having other accidents due to her dementia.

Internet usage

Mobile device skills

Affinity to new tech

Digital Health Literacy

Assistance (ICT use)

What's important to Eleni

– Being active and able to support herself independently.
– Reducing the burden of her chronic disease management.
– Spending time with her friends.
– Feeling safe at home while dealing with her condition.

Health concerns

– High blood pressure.
– Dementia.
– Adherence to treatment and memory exercises is challenging

Daily living

– Her early stage dementia makes adherence to medication and following a healthy lifestyle challenging.
– She follows a programme of cognitive and physical activities alone at home, since the closest Dementia Day Centre is based in another (bigger) city.

Health tests

– Check-ups with GP and e-prescription every 1-3 months.
– Regular follow-up and clinical assessments from neurologist.
– Annual or bi-annual laboratory tests.
– Blood pressure checks and physical examinations.
– Dementia stage re-evaluations.

Events, issues & personal concerns

– Feels stressed with the everyday challenges of dementia.
– Worried about having accidents at home.
– Has social needs since no family members live nearby.

Treatment: medications, therapies, etc.

– 1 pill for high blood pressure.
– 1 pill for dementia.
– 1 patch for dementia.

Own resources & assets / support

– High level of education.
– Friends at the local municipal elderly centre.
– Medicals costs are covered by the national health system.
– Visits 2x /week from the Greek public home care service system (a service for elderly with social care needs).

Care professional concerns

– She sometimes misses some check-ups and appointments with her doctor (due to her dementia).
– Adherence to treatment is difficult due to memory loss.

Needs

– Eleni wants to benefit from services typically offered in a Dementia Day Centre, but such services (e.g. memory exercises, patient empowerment programmes) are only available in bigger cities.
– Eleni does not fully benefit from her local hospital care services due to occasional memory loss and lack of family support.
– Eleni’s adherence to her treatment is not optimal due to her dementia.
– Eleni is worried about her safety (e.g. having accidents, fires, falls) since she lives alone with early stage dementia.
– Eleni may need support in planning for the future such as moving closer to her family or to an area close to a Dementia Day Centre so that her health and condition are better managed especially as her dementia progresses.

Developed by

George Dafoulas, eTrikala