Is this too much?

According to the recent article, Surrogate Memory,Pal Pilots can be a huge help to people suffering from sever memory impairments.

People who have suffered strokes, have alzheimer's, or any other cognitive limitation can benefit from the modified palm pilot developed at Baycrest. At Baycrest, people with cognitive impairment take lessons in how to use their palm pilot until they (with their poor memories) can no longer maybe remember how they learned how to use the machine, but they still know how to use it. This is called procedural memory, and works sort of like riding a bike or walking.

The people then need to get in the habit of putting everything they need to do into their palm pilot. The reminders can be easily programmed at any time for any time, and then, when it is time for the person to do something, the palm pilot beeps and they can look at what they need to do.

Great right... Yeah, until they make a mistake. If a person says, "I don't have time right now, I'll put the event in later" chances are they will forget about putting the event in their palm pilot, and thus forget the event. Also, what happens when the person is told drive to an appointment, and they get in the car and can't remember what they did with their keys, or in the case of Alzheimer's Disease, they can't remember what they need to start the car. Then in the process of looking for their keys, they have to wander the house, and maybe bump into a book they were reading and just sit down and read never thinking again about the appointment. And what happens when they look at the date the doctor wrote on the appointment reminder card and put the appointment on say the 16th instead of the 6th?

Palm Pilots are a step above an day planner because they can actually remind you when something needs to happen, but I wonder how effective they would be for someone with severe cognitive impairment. There are so many steps in between being told that you have a doctor's appointment and actually arriving there that too many things can go wrong.