Lacombe Foundation staff and board members experienced a simulation of what it can be like to have dementia in an educational model delivered by the Bethany Group.
“It actually makes you feel emotional that the simulation is such a short period of time and my perception of the world was changed. I can’t quite imagine that people live like that 24-7,” said Cora Hoekstra, City of Lacombe councilor and Lacombe Foundation board member.
The tour is not a virtual reality experience, as the name might imply. It is a very real hands-on experience.
Participants are dressed in a suit intended to simulate many of the symptoms that people living with dementia can experience - impaired vision, macular degeneration, arthritis, corns, bunions, hearing loss, etc.—then they are asked to complete a series of ordinary daily tasks.
“People with dementia do not actually always show what they’re experiencing,” said Hoekstra.
Dementia is the most common type of neurodegenerative disorder in Canada affecting about 564,000 people, according to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada.
Residents with dementia make up 56% of the population over 80-years-old living in care facilities and 42% of the residences between 65- to 79-years-old, according to Statistics Canada.
“I think it’s really helpful to have our experiences changed for a moment just to give us a little bit of insight into what people are living with,” Hoekstra said.
Participants consistently came out of the simulation commenting that the experience was frustrating - they were irritated by their incapacity to perform the tasks they were required to, or even remember the instructions.
“Sometimes it’s really good to be the person that is the recipient of the care and see what it is like from their perspective,” Hoekstra said. A reflection time following the simulation is one of the most important parts.
The tour only takes a few minutes, but Melodie Stol, stakeholder relations advisor for the Bethany Group, commented that it feels much longer. “You lose your sense of time in there,” she said.
Lacombe Foundation board member and Blackfalds Town Councillor Jamie Hoover commented on what a relief it was to get the suit off, but then how he was struck with a pang of guilt, knowing that people who live with dementia never get to take it off.
Hoover compared it to an escape room experience, where you are trying to overcome barriers.
Both he and Stol reflected on how the constant obstacles people with dementia live with could quickly wear down morale and decrease their motivation to persist at a task.
“What if that was your life sentence?” Stol said.
Hoekstra said she was grateful for the experience and added that it will definitely change how she interacts with and cares for people living with dementia going forward.
“Patience and time need to be implemented in our days when we’re dealing with someone with different abilities,” she said.
“With anyone in care we need to watch them and be sensitive to their needs.”
The Bethany Group runs a variety of education modules for frontline workers, most designed to teach clinical skills for practical application, but this sensitivity training is the most frequently requested.
The Virtual Dementia Tour was created by Second Wind Dreams and run through Outreach Education a part of the Rosehaven Provincial Program.
The module hosted by the Lacombe Foundation was available to all interested members of staff from maintenance and kitchen to nurses and members of the board of directors, representing communities throughout the region. Eighteen people participated in the simulation.
The Bethany Group and Lacombe Foundation have been working in partnership since 2011.