Putting ourselves in another person’s shoes helps us understand what someone is going through. However, this can be difficult when we have no grasp of how a condition can take hold. Good thing, a revolutionary tool has been invented so that home health caregivers may step firsthand into the lives of someone who suffers from dementia.
Take a glimpse of Virtual Dementia Tour where home care in Connecticut and family caregivers should experience.
- Wearing VDT toolkit
The first step is wearing devices that simulate certain aspects of dementia incorporated with many other physical impairments of seniors. The gloves will cause loss of fine motor skills to inhibit hand movements. The goggles will also replicate macular degeneration and loss of peripheral vision. And headphones, on the other hand, will be to distort hearing and comprehension. - The Five-Minute Task
VDT takers will then be given simple tasks to be completed within 5 minutes, such as buttoning their clothes, looking for certain pills, and folding the clothes. With faulty hearing, some VDT takers will really take a long time to grasp instructions. Downing emotions will start to surface. Having the ability to see everything around a room but not seeing the very one thing being looked for, which is the characteristic of macular degeneration, makes the confusion worse. - Empathy Stage
Most VDT takers get emotional during and after the dementia tour. It affects so deeply to know that this population is much misunderstood. This experience gives home health agencies a deeper realization and appreciation for just how important their role in caregiving is.
Virtual Dementia Tour gives us the knowledge on how to close the gap between patients with dementia and their loved ones. At-HomeCare of CT, LLC, we understand such cry. Allow us to help.