Item holder

#This invention relates generally to an apparatus for holding various necessary items for people and in particular to an apparatus for holding various necessary items for elderly or forgetful people including, for example, eyeglasses, dentures, hearing aids and the like.

#A lot of people do not have a good memory and often forget and/or misplace items. This is especially true for elderly people who are often beset by poor memory and forgetfulness. This forgetfulness causes the elderly person to misplace items of importance to the elderly person since the elderly person may place an item in a particular location, but forget the location of the item later. This is especially a problem with various items that are necessary for the elderly person to conduct everyday activities. These necessary items may include eyeglasses (necessary to see), dentures (necessary for eating and talking) and hearing aids (necessary for hearing). If these items are misplaced or lost, the elderly person may have very significant difficulties completing everyday tasks. In addition, an elderly person often has a severely limited fixed income so that the cost of replacing these necessary items is prohibitive. In addition, the time to replace these items means that the elderly person must go without the item for some period of time.

#The problem is particularly evident in nursing homes, elderly care facilities and the like. In particular, a nursing home may house hundreds of elderly people who often have cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, that severely diminishes the person's memory. Often, a nurse may help the elderly person get ready for bed including removing the elderly person's items, such as eyeglasses, dentures and hearing aids. The nurse may then place these items in some location for safekeeping until the morning. However, in the morning, a different nurse may help the elderly person wake up and get ready for the day and that nurse may not know where the nurse placed the elderly person's items. Even worse, the items are lost and end up in a lost and found box in the nursing home that may contain numerous eyeglasses, dentures and hearing aids.

#FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating a front view and a top view, respectively, of an example of an item holder in accordance with a first embodiment of the invention;

#FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C are diagrams illustrating perspective views of an item holder in accordance with a second embodiment of the invention wherein the various compartments for the necessary items are shown;

#FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating a third embodiment of the item holder in accordance with the invention;

#The invention is particularly applicable to a holder for holding various necessary items for an elderly person and it is in this context that the invention will be described. It will be appreciated, however, that the apparatus in accordance with the invention has greater utility since the holder may be used by anyone that frequently misplaces or loses the above necessary items and it may be used with a variety of different necessary items.

#FIGS. 1A and 1B are diagrams illustrating an item holder 10 in accordance with the invention. In particular, the item holder 10 may be any suitable material, such as plastic or wood, shaped as a face so that it is easy for a person or an attendant for an elderly person to determine where to store the person's necessary items, such as dentures, eyeglasses and hearing aids. In accordance with the invention, the item holder may be a variety of different shapes as described in more detail below. In accordance with the first embodiment of the invention, the item holder 10 may be decorated, such as by painting or using different color materials, etc., to create a face. For example, hair 12, eyes 14, nose 16 and a mouth 18 may be placed on the item holder. The item holder may also be decorated so that the face may be of any race. In addition, the item holder 10 may also include a pair of appropriately placed ears 20. Thus, in accordance with the invention, it will be obvious to anyone placing the necessary items into the item holder where those necessary items are stored. To facilitate the storage of the items, the item holder may include a shelf/tray 22 adjacent to each part of the face which represents an item being stored. For example, there may be a shelf for a person's eyeglasses beneath the eyes 14 decorating the item holder, there may be a shelf adjacent each ear 20 for hearing aids and there may be a shelf beneath the mouth 18 of the item holder for storing dentures. Thus, the user of the item holder, such as an elderly person, or an aide taking care of an elderly or disabled person, may easily determine where the user's items such as eyeglasses, dentures and hearing aids may be safely stored so that the items are not misplaced or damaged.

#To help identify the person whose items are stored on the item holder 10, the item holder may include space (not shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B) where various information about the person may be placed. For example, information may be removable written in the space or the information may be permanently scribed or etched into the item holder to customize the item holder of the particular person. In accordance with the invention, the information about the person may include the name of the person, the current room assignment of the person (for a nursing or hospital setting), the current person assigned to care for the person during the day and night and any other relevant information. The person's information may permit a misplaced item to be more easily located. The item holder 10 permits even a person with limited memory or poor eyesight to be able to place the items in the proper storage trays/shelves so that the items are not misplaced or lost. In accordance with the invention, the item holder 10 may be attached to a wall using an attachment means, such as a nail or picture hanger, or may rest on a table or other flat surface provided that the bottom surface of the item holder 10 is flat. Now, a second embodiment of the item holder 10 in accordance with the invention will be described.