Virtual Dementia Tour April 22, 2008 - Today is my husband Kevin and my second anniversary. We decided to take Monday - Thursday off this week and just spend some time together at home. I remembered from the Alzheimer's Spring Symposium that the Virtual Dementia Tour was going to take place today at Arden Courts in Grand Prairie. I asked Kevin if he would like to attend with me before our celebratory dinner and he accepted. We got dressed up and headed out to the nursing home. I wasn't sure what to expect. I had been told we would put on goggles and head phones and I wasn't sure what else at that point. Upon entering we had to sign in, fill out a questionnare, and test our blood pressure. After that we went through another door and got "assembled." The lady at the table placed swimming goggles over my eyes - they were foggy and had black circles in the center of them. They placed uncooked beans in my shoes. I read on another website that the goggles represent macular degeneration and the beans in the shoes represent arthritis and bunions. Headphones were placed in my ears with a radio talk show with static playing and then plastic gloves with the beans in each fingertip. The lady then asked me if I was right-handed. I said yes and she taped my thumb, pointer finger, and middle finger together on my right hand and my ring finger and pinky finger together on my left hand. I must have been a sight! They decided that since Kevin and I were together, they were going to try something different. They would let me go in first and after a minute Kevin would come in. They had two sets of tasks to complete. I had to put on a white sweater, write a letter with three sentences (which I got wrong and wrote three letters with one sentence each), set the table for four people, fold the towels on the bed, and fill a cup with water half way. Kevin's tasks were to put a belt through some pants, match the socks on the bed, tie a tie around his neck, and draw a picture of his family and name them. Sounds simple enough. I slowly and painfully made my way to the room. The door was opened for me and I entered (they kept someone in the room at all times to make sure no one harmed themselves). The room was dark and a strobe light flashing. Thankfully the lady in the room informed me that if I forgot my tasks they were taped on the wall. I made my way to the bed to look through the items there for the white sweater. Nothing. It was hard to see but I did find a closet. I opened the doors and found the white sweater. I pulled it out and tried to put it on. It was quite difficult and made me think of all the times I got upset with my mom when she was trying to get dressed. I finally got it on and went to the wall with the tasks and saw that I needed to write the letters. Some of the words on task sheet were written larger than others and the sentences didn't make a lot of sense. And, it was hard to see with the foggy goggles. I started on my letters and in came Kevin. He began looking around the room. He picked up something on the bed and yelled out, "That's not pants!" (Remember, we have the headphones with the static noise going on in our ears!) He then came over to me and yelled out, "Do you have my pants?" I shook my head no. The lady in the room opened the closet door for Kevin. "Oh! She gave me a hint!" he yelled and went about his business. After the letters I set the table and then folded the towels; both difficult tasks with the gloves on. Then I had to fill the cup with water. I went into the bathroom but couldn't find a cup anywhere but did see a strange picture on the mirror - it looked like a baby. I realized there might be a cup by the bed so I checked out the nightstand and sure enough there was one there. I picked it up and then found a pitcher of water on the nightstand and filled the cup with water. I have no idea how much water I put in the cup. I left Kevin in the room since I completed my tasks and removed my "Alzheimer's" disease. They took my blood pressure again. During this, Kevin came out. He had completed all of his tasks as well which they were surprised. But, we found out they usually timed people but since they were trying something different with the both of us in there, they let us complete the tasks (I'm guessing most people don't complete them in the time allotted). After Kevin got his blood pressure tested we went into another room and filled out another questionnare and then spoke with some ladies about the disease. We left that day with a new appreciation about Alzheimer's. Come to find out, the lady who was in the room with us showed Kevin the picture on the mirror without the goggles on. The picture that I thought was a baby, turned out to be an older man. People with Alzheimer's Disease think they are young. When they see themselves in the mirror, some just wave thinking it is someone else. What will you do to help Alzheimer's patients? www.alz.org. Stephanie Brady |
