A DEMENTIA simulator started its first fully-funded tour of north and mid-Essex at a Mistley care home.
The Clinical Commission Group has funded the Virtual Dementia Tour for more than 3,800 people.
Specially designed in America 18 years ago, it simulates the experience of having dementia using a dark room, flash lighting, headphones with loud noises, goggles to block peripheral vision, gloves to blunt sensation to fingers and uncomfortable insoles.
On Friday, the simulator run by Training 2 Care was at Mistley Manor care home.
It was the first day of the tour, which is offering the training for free in the hope of reaching as many care homes and carers as possible by the end of November.
Managing director of Training 2 Care UK, Glenn Knight said: “The Virtual Dementia Tour is a sensitivity programme created for anyone seeking to understand the physical and mental challenges of those suffering from dementia.
“In short, it is a total immersion which allows you to feel and understand what the person with dementia is feeling.” More than 820,000 people in the UK suffer with dementia, but it is thought only 44 per cent of them receive a diagnosis.
Mr Knight added: “The major benefit of the Virtual Dementia Tour is that it gives you a window into the world of those people with dementia.
“It truly is an unusual, emotional and very thought-provoking experience.
“The Virtual Dementia Tour is the only medically and scientifically proven method of giving a person with a healthy brain an experience of what dementia might be like.”
Dementia is a term used to describe a collection of symptoms including memory loss and problems with reasoning and communication. skills, and a reduction in a person’s abilities and skills in carrying out daily activities such as washing and dressing.
The tour is set to visit care and nursing homes, hospitals, residential care providers, domiciliary care providers, district nurses and GP surgeries.
It is hoped the simulator will improve standards of care and help diagnosis of the condition.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here