‘Virtual Dementia Tour’ Increases Caregivers’ Empathy
Goggled, Hobbled, Isolated by Headphones, I Am Guided Forward
We finally reached the top step. The woman holding my elbow didn’t have much to say. I was hungry for the sound of an unfiltered human voice, but I had to concentrate so hard on climbing the steps, as my sight was distorted by the goggles, that I probably wouldn’t have heard much, anyway. Besides, these headphones were isolating.
We passed through a doorway. Two other women were in a large room. They must have been aides. One aide stood beside a young woman in a wheelchair, likely one of the staff going through training. It was obvious they were waiting for me.
An aide pushed a wheelchair toward me, mentioning “the one in the black pants.” I was wearing black jeans.
“This one’s hospice?” she briskly asked the woman who brought me in.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll put her in this chair,” the woman said. “No one who uses this chair lives long, anyway.”
I think the woman who brought me in, left. I never thought I’d miss my silent partner, but I felt abandoned here with these strangers.
Goggled, Hobbled, Isolated by Headphones, I Am Guided Forward
We finally reached the top step. The woman holding my elbow didn’t have much to say. I was hungry for the sound of an unfiltered human voice, but I had to concentrate so hard on climbing the steps, as my sight was distorted by the goggles, that I probably wouldn’t have heard much, anyway. Besides, these headphones were isolating.
We passed through a doorway. Two other women were in a large room. They must have been aides. One aide stood beside a young woman in a wheelchair, likely one of the staff going through training. It was obvious they were waiting for me.
An aide pushed a wheelchair toward me, mentioning “the one in the black pants.” I was wearing black jeans.
“This one’s hospice?” she briskly asked the woman who brought me in.
“Yeah,” she said. “I’ll put her in this chair,” the woman said. “No one who uses this chair lives long, anyway.”
I think the woman who brought me in, left. I never thought I’d miss my silent partner, but I felt abandoned here with these strangers.
One aide said: “Did she do anything? Work anywhere? Know anything about her?”
The second aide said: “I think she worked at a newspaper.”
“Well, we need a nickname for her even though she won’t last long,” the first aide…
Continue reading on HealthCentral for part two of my experience in a virtually simulated dementia:
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