I was recently asked, "In your career, is there a specific project or experience that you found especially rewarding or memorable?" I said, "Absolutely. I worked with a diverse team of professionals to develop cognitive therapy for people living with dementia. Building on an activity called 'Blackout Bingo' created by Cameron Camp, the team built the Memory Magic? Program (https://www.memorymagic.com) that could be deployed in a minute in a long-term care memory unit and engage 20 residents for 60 minutes with a single staff person. It is now used in over 2700 facilities in 7 countries and has impacted the lives of over 500,000 people living with dementia and their caregivers. That is the best example I can think of with great teamwork, intervention innovation, commercial success, and far-reaching impact."
The person responded, "Anthony, your sharing is very moving! To be able to help so many people improve their lives through teamwork and innovative interventions is truly an amazing accomplishment. I'm curious, in your opinion, what are the keys to the success of such a wide-reaching program? Are there other areas where you see similar opportunities to change more people's lives through innovation and teamwork?
I answered, "The key to the Memory Magic Program was bringing in a wide range of expertise around an innovative approach. In that case, we were applying the principles of Montessori to interventions designed for people living with dementia. After completing that project, I began considering what we developed as a cognitive prosthetic. My current company, iRxReminder, is a similar cognitive prosthetic. In the case of medication taking, it jumps in to help you when you are forgetting and provides a backup if you miss a dose. It also allows the care team to follow patients effortlessly and directly intervene when needed. AI can facilitate this kind of monitoring: jump in when you need help but stay out of your way when you don't. It takes teams of specialized computer science, social science, and healthcare experts around a behavioral insight to implement the technology. That is precisely why we partnered with Loren Larsen, Brett Talbot, PhD and Bradley Grimm of Videra Health, Quentin Fisher of AIDAN AI, and Stacey Simonton, Michael Terry, and Joe Sarkauskas of Sanctuary Software Studio, Inc. The iRxReminder team brings the vision and insight into the behavioral challenge of medication-taking. It wraps these technologies around the medication to make it the super pill it was created to be. And our team has the expertise to take these services to the behavioral health community."
