It’s impossible to know exactly what it feels like to have Alzheimer’s, but the Virtual Dementia Tour attempts to recreate that chaotic sense of mental decline.
Nationwide, about 200,000 people have taken the Virtual Dementia Tour in about 1,000 locations across the U.S. It has received media coverage on ABC News and on “The Doctors,” a syndicated daytime TV show.
Taking the tour requires a variety of accoutrements, said P.K. Beville, who developed the concept through her nonprofit organization, Second Wind Dreams. Goggles impair vision. Headphones simulate hearing loss, and sounds with varying decibel levels compromise the ability to understand speech. Occasional sounds of alarms and whistles create confusion.
Tour takers wear gloves with popcorn kernels or rice contained in the fingertips to simulate atrophy of sensory skills, common among dementia patients. The thumb and forefinger of a participant’s dominant hand are taped together to simulate loss of fine motor
skills. Shoe inserts compromise mobility.
Once tour-takers are outfitted, a volunteer reads them their instructions—five tasks to complete in a simulated bedroom and dining area. They are given eight minutes to do things as fold laundry or set a table.
The experience provides a sense of what dementia feels like, and that helps people understand what Alzheimer’s patients go through.
“We continue to make decisions about this disease based on no knowledge,” Beville said. “It’s hard to make decisions about another human being until you walk in their shoes.”
One location that has used the Virtual Dementia Tour is United HomeCare, a not-for-profit home health care agency in the Miami area. Blanca Ceballos, manager of the United HomeCare Caregiver Resource Center and volunteer department, said the Virtual Dementia Tour provides a hands-on sensitivity training tool to enable family caregivers, and even professional caregivers, to better understand the challenges of those with dementia or Alzheimer’s.
People who take the tour have a “wow” reaction, Ceballos said. “Caregivers walk away and go back home and see their loved one in a different light. They know what they are going through.”
One participant said, “It helped me to see what it could be like for them.”
“I will be more empathetic,” said another participant. “It helped me understand what my grandmother is going through. It will help me have patience.”
In Miami-Dade, the Virtual Dementia Tour is offered every third or fourth Thursday, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. It takes only 15 or 20 minutes, and includes a sit-down session with a counselor afterward for more education and information. As many as 10 or 15 people complete the tour in a day.
More than 100 tours have been conducted since the program began in Miami-Dade with the 2010 opening of United HomeCare’s Caregiver Resource Center, which provides support and respite for caregivers, as well as information to increase their skills.
Beville left her consulting practice in long-term care in 1997 to found Second Wind Dreams, a nonprofit organization with the main goal of fulfilling the dreams of older people. She combats pervasive negative attitudes about aging and encourages society to “view our elders as our future instead of something to fear or marginalize.”
The organization fulfills about two dreams a day for elderly people across the country, including a 99-year-old who wanted to visit a casino and a man in a nursing home who wanted a new pair of slippers. Other fulfilled dreams have involved piano lessons, hot air balloons and reunions with family members.
Proceeds from selling the patented Virtual Dementia Tour kit to providers go to Second Wind Dreams, Beville said. A “family edition” is also available. There are 28 certified trainers in the United States who can conduct the tours at conventions or professional meetings.
