Partly in response to comments from attendees at the Aging in America conference, and partly in response to needs expressed by participants in pilot studies, Memo plans to introduce several enhancements in the coming months. These include:

Audio recording of voices of family members. Family members will be able to record general messages, readings of the message line for the visually impaired, introductory messages to help a person adjust the to presence of the Memo and make it attractive, and voice reminders for calendar events.

Help button. A help button can be touched by someone who is concerned or afraid. It will immediately send either a text message or email to whatever address is specified by the caregiver. For example, the message might be routed to a home health agency during business hours and to a family member after hours, or distributed among several adult children by day of the week.

Tutorial with video, voice instructions, and interactive buttons. When short-term memory is impaired, learning ability is diminished. A video showing the many features of Memo, accompanied with voice recording and requiring interaction from the user (“Press the green button to return to the main page”) may be repeated as often as needed to help the person adjust to the Memo and feel comfortable with it.

A version for the visually impaired. Using large fonts and icons, high-contrast visuals, and colors appropriate for the visually impaired, this version of the Memo will have a greater range of accessibility.