Allyson Schrier joins Suzanne to talk about the Zinnia TV app, helping people thrive beyond their diagnosis, with the aim of both the caregiver and the person receiving care to thrive. The meaning of the flower zinnia is “Memories of a Forgotten Friend.”
The Zinnia TV app has more than 180 research-driven videos that are digestible and appealing for people in mid- to late stages of dementia. Watching the videos serves to create opportunities to talk and share. There are a variety of channels, opportunities for people to be successful and help support activities of daily living. There are videos about, for example, drinking water. It’s not about how to do it, but seeing people, cats, geese and more drinking water and enjoying it. Caregivers play that video five or six times a day as a point of conversation to prompt the senior to have a glass of water.
Zinnia TV subscriptions are just $6.99/month, or $69.99/year, with a two-week free trial. Learn more at Zinnia TV.
Allyson Schrier: I am, but first I am going to talk about the name. So it’s Zinnia TV. Zinnia like the flower, big gardener. Zinnias are flowers that will thrive in the worst of conditions. And also, the flower meaning of Zinnia is “memories of a forgotten friend.”
Suzanne: I didn’t know that it is.
Allyson Schrier: And so therefore Zinnia TV, what we’re all about is helping people thrive beyond their diagnosis and that thriving of both the caregiver and the person receiving care. So, Zinnia TV is, is an app that’s available on for tablets and connected TVs and it is a library of over 180 research-driven videos that are engaging for and digestible by people with mid- to late-stage dementia.
And there are a few things that they do. So one is while watching the video with a person. These are specifically intended to be very, very appealing to somebody who is living with dementia. So we have lots of different topics and the idea is that I could sit with somebody and while the video is playing, it serves to create opportunities for conversation and connection that allows me to have something to talk about with my loved one and something for us to share.
Additionally, we have a games channel which is fun, and games which are guided conversations. They are trivia, and when I say games, they’re visually stunning. They ask questions, like there’s some like “name that dog breed,” right? So we’ll have beautiful pictures of a Jack Russell terrier. And then we say what dog is this? And then at the bottom of the screen, it says this is a Jack Russell terrier. So, opportunities for people to be successful.
The idea is that the videos are so engaging that I can even get moments of respite, because I can once the video ends, I can have it play the next video and so it gives me — and all the videos are like 10 minutes or shorter — it gives me the opportunity to take out the garbage, or comb my hair, or chop an onion, and know that my loved one is engaged. Additionally, Suzanne, we have things like sing-alongs and our categories are places, they are interests, they are nostalgia.
But we also have a channel that is the activities of daily living channel. And that is we have videos about using the toilet, videos about eating, drinking and brushing teeth. The intention is not that these are videos that explain to you as a caregiver how to do these things. When I watch this with the person who has dementia, they will see other people doing the thing that I am hoping that they will do, and liking it. We’re watching the drinking water video, people drinking water, and smiling, all slow-paced, beautiful imagery. We’re watching geese drink water, and dogs drink water, and kitty cats and babies drink water. This allows me to say, “Look at that man, that cat is so thirsty. I think I’m kind of thirsty. Let’s drink water.” And so what we’re saying is that they play that video five and six times a day. You sit down with the person, they have glasses of water ready, and everybody drinks while they’re watching the video.
We’ve been testing Zinnia TV. There’s a research project going on up in Vancouver with the University of British Columbia and Vancouver General Hospital. We also just did a two-month pilot in five long-term care communities and we’re just hearing the greatest anecdotes and the greatest stories of people who are using Zinnia TV to bring down people who are in a state of high anxiety, sit with them and say hey, check out these babies.
Suzanne: I remember watching your channel a while ago, when you first came out, and I love the travel one where you have the Taj Mahal and the Eiffel Tower. And it’s this amazing tour around the world. But it’s just like, wow. I even found myself saying, you know, I could sit and watch this if I’m stressed out. I could actually turn this on and help me go to sleep, because it’s so nice and it’s friendly.
Allison and I are going to be right back to close out her segment, and we’re gonna talk more about the details, and how you can get Zinnia TV in your own home right after this.
