First responders and other community members got a new perspective on caring for those with dementia during a recent Virtual Dementia Tour event in Normal.
The Virtual Dementia Tour is an evidence-based simulation that emulates the experience of a person living with dementia. The Sugar Creek Alzheimer's Special Care Center in Normal played host last week for the event allowing the community and first responders to go through the experience.
“What the simulation does is it helps increase empathy in caregivers,” said certified Virtual Dementia Tour trainer Zina Karana, “because it gives them an understanding of how it feels to have all the challenges that someone with dementia might have.”
Simulating dementia
Before entering the simulation, participants put on special glasses, headphones, shoe inserts and gloves.
Each participant was given a series of different tasks and then had eight minutes to complete the tasks in a room.
After the simulation, Karana led a debrief for the participants to help them relate what happened in the simulation room to what someone with dementia is experiencing.
Karana and the participants also discussed caregiving strategies that they can use that will help make caregiving go more smoothly.
“So how to approach someone with dementia, [and] ways they can help make caregiving more successful so that if the person is anxious, what they can do if they have trouble with the tasks, ways that things can be easier for them,” Karana said.
One of the participants was Joe Montemurro, police chief in El Paso, about 20 miles north of Bloomington-Normal.
Montemurro said it was eye opening to realize the difficulties people with dementia face.
“[There was] a lot of confusion, a lot of things scattered around,” Montemurro said. “My first thought was to try to start to organize things, but I think that's kind of part of what dementia does. Certain people want to organize things that don't need organized.”
Illinois Wesleyan University Dean of Nursing and Health Sciences Amber Kujath has been using the simulation since 2018. She said it's changed her nursing practice after experiencing it.
Kujath said the most striking thing is when people come out of the simulation disoriented.
“They're really kind of stunned in that moment, and so they really need a lot of direction,” Kujath said. “Many of them say things like, ‘That's really sad,’ or, ‘Oh my gosh, is that what it's really like?’ So right away most people feel some sort of impact.”
Beyond dementia
Kujath said the simulated experience can extend beyond people with dementia and memory issues.
The skills learned from the dementia simulation can translate to aiding someone with sensory impairments or auditory hallucinations.
“Those types of things can really be extrapolated to a lot of really important populations,” Kujath said.
Kujath has been conducting the Virtual Dementia Tour with nursing students for a long time, and said she has just recently brought it to professional caregivers and family caregivers.
Any organization or household can host a Virtual Dementia Tour. Second Wind Dreams can bring in a certified trainer, or a self-guided version can be brought to a residential home.
