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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