“It was not what i expected” Carers in Strood take part in Virtual Dementia Tour

KentOnline / KMTV

The Virtual Dementia Tour came to Medway for one day only to teach professionals, Carers and Carers First staff more about Dementia by giving them an insight into the lives of those with the diagnosis.   Kristin Hawthorne spoke to attendees and tried out the experience for herself...

Transcript

00:00I felt like I knew a lot about dementia but this this is a good eye-opener.

00:03By partnering with Training2Care, Charity Carers First have been able to bring the

00:08virtual dementia tour to Medway in an aim to help carers, professionals and staff

00:14better understand and support those with dementia.

00:16This piece of training allows the carer and any professional that's working with someone who has

00:22dementia to experience what it's like to have dementia and how it affects their senses.

00:27Quite often when people hear the word dementia they think about memory loss but what they don't

00:31necessarily consider are the sensory changes that happen, things like vision and sounds,

00:39being able to hold things with their hands, colour changes. So what this experience does it allows

00:46with some tools and with sights and sounds to feel like you're having those same experiences that

00:52person's having and what that will then enable professionals and also carers to understand is

00:58why people with dementia might have certain behaviours.

01:02With dementia currently affecting more than 900,000 people in the UK alone,

01:07Carers First say that one in three people will become a carer at some point in their lives.

01:12This makes the virtual experience a stepping stone in raising awareness of the syndrome and its effects.

01:17It was really amazing to understand what it is to be inside the shoes of somebody with dementia,

01:24so it's really a good eye-opener, really is amazing, really good. It was not what I expected at all.

01:29Going through that experience it's a real eye-opener, I mean that feeling of not being able to see

01:36what you're doing, seeing where things are and that noise, I mean that constant noise must just be

01:43absolutely awful for the person going through it. So I've been told by people who've already taken

01:48part in the tour that it's nothing like they expected it to be, so I thought I'd try it out for myself.

02:02We had to put insoles in our feet that were spiky so you kind of feel how they feel when they're walking.

02:08You had to put gloves on, glasses on, wear the headphones and there was all kinds of stuff going on, sirens in your ear.

02:20Although the virtual experience looks just as strange as it feels, it gives a sneak peek into

02:24the lives of those with dementia, helping carers and staff better support each other and those

02:29that they care for. Kristin Hawthorne for KMTV in Strood.

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