Your shoes are filled with popcorn kernels, several fingers are bound together with tape, and your eyes are covered with red goggles. You're given a list of tasks to do while listening to static on a portable CD player: clear a table set for four, put toothpaste on a toothbrush, switch the TV to channel 4, match six pairs of socks, and loop a belt through a pair of pants. How well do you think you would do?
This is the Virtual Dementia Tour™, a simulation of what it feels like to have dementia. It was developed by geriatric psychologist P.K. Beville, PhD, after working more than 20 years with people in long-term care facilities and noticing a lack of empathy from caregivers toward those struggling with Alzheimer's and dementia.
Family members also often lack sensitivity toward a loved one who has dementia, and may underestimate their disability. Consequently, home caregivers become frustrated and angry when their loved one can't perform simple tasks such as telling time or paying a bill.
More than 10,000 professional caregivers have gone through a similar Virtual Dementia Tour™ designed for groups. The individual kit that is designed to be used at home sells for $50. All proceeds from the sale of the kit benefit Second Wind Dreams, a project founded by Beville to fulfill the wishes of residents of nursing homes and assisted living facilities. http://www.secondwind.org/vdt_individual.html
Comments