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‘The woman asked for my glasses, then placed green, bug-eyed goggles on my face. The goggle lenses were foggy, with dark circles in the center to stimulate macular degeneration. The area surrounding each dark spot was cloudy.
She covered my ears with ear phones emitting jabbering background noise, rather like a muted radio talk show. She poured un-popped corn into each of my shoes, to simulate the pain of arthritic feet and bunions…pulled gloves with popcorn-filled finger tips over my hands…taped three fingers on each hand. I felt as though I was, bit by bit, being entombed.
The woman led me to a dimly lit room and told me that I had five tasks to complete, once I went inside: find a tie and hang it around my neck, pair up six sets of socks, clear a table, draw pictures of my family and name them, and find a belt and put it on.’ (Dementia Boot Camp: Training To Be a Caregiver Part I and Part II)
So begins the journey that Carol Bradley Bursack experienced when invited to attend a training program at a nearby Rest Home.
‘I wandered around. I looked at everything. I wracked my brain. It seemed so simple when the woman at the door named my tasks…’
‘I could see a tie shape. Then another. And another. I didn’t know if I was supposed to put just on one, or all I found…I’d forgotten…The voices were so annoying.’
Created by Second Wind, a non-profit organization committed to improving people’s perceptions of aging, the Virtual Dementia Tour allows health professionals, caregivers, and family members to experience the world of dementia. Participants are given tasks to perform while wearing distortion goggles and listening to constant background noises. And as a result, simple tasks suddenly become more difficult and even impossible.
Virtual Dementia Tour is a novel way of getting people to understand Alzheimer’s disease and should be experienced by anyone working in long term care facilities.
For more information on the Virtual Dementia Tour, contact Second Wind
Phone: 678-624-0500 or email swdream@bellsouth.net
Hi Cathy, will have to check out this dementia guide tool you’re mentioning.
Thanks for letting us know about it.
Cheers, Liz
Hi Autumn, you’re so right. But with all the great technology nowadays, there is opportunity to create training tools that give caregivers a taste of what it must be like to be impaired. And with this comes more understanding and empathy.
Thanks for stopping in and chatting.
Cheers, Liz
It’s impossible for others to really understand what it is to be impaired. I know at my childs school, they covered someones eyes to see how it is to be blind, and cover their ears to similate being deaf. This is a great training tool for caregivers.
DementiaGuide is a subscription based company which has developed an online tool for care givers to create their own report where they can easily identify, track and use to communicate what is happening and how they are managing. This easy to read printout of specific information can make doctor’s appointments less stressful and more focused on symptoms and daily activities. With family members, especially ones living in another location, it can be used to keep them informed and perhaps more empathic to the care giver and the care requirements of their relative.
Cathy MacNutt
VIce – President, Product Development
I think being able to experience what an alzheimer patient is experience is a great way of educating people about the disease. It gives not only knowledge but empathy and that can only be a good thing.
1814 days ago
[...] recently wrote about the virtual dementia tours that enable caregivers and nursing home staff to attempt to learn what it’s like within the [...]
This is a great experience. We did something similar to this in nursing school. I think anyone who deals with someone with this disease on a daily basis should have to complete an exercise like this, so they can better understand.
This sounds like an excellent way to learn more about the Alzheimer’s patient’s world. I tried to read and learn all I could about the world Mother and Auntie were living in. Also, reading books written by Alzheimer’s patients themselves helped give me insight. I found I could better understand and help Mother and Auntie as I gained more insight into their world at it’s various stages.