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MEDFORD, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — In order to help caretakers, first responders, family, and friends understand the hardships and conditions of those living with dementia, the Courtyard Nursing Care Center in Medford provided a training exercise to simulate "The Dementia Experience" on Friday.
The community event comes after a recent study published in the JAMA Neurology journal found an estimated one in ten Americans over the age of 65 suffer from dementia. To help the loved ones and caretakers best understand how the effects of dementia can impact someone, officials from Genesis Healthcare orchestrated the exercise in Medford. WBZ's Kendall Buhl took part in the simulation, something that proved to be a jarring experience.
Participants wore blurred and scratched glasses, heavy gloves to diminish fine motor skills, all to get a firsthand indication of what living with dementia is like.
"[You wear] glasses that impair your vision, we tap some fingers up and play noises during it. We may impair your senses, and have you do specific tasks that might be simple for the average individual, but when you have the disease it can make it much, much harder. Most people just associate it with memory loss, but it's so much more than that," said Dementia Program Director for Genesis Healthcare Stephanie Schellenger.
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Event organizers commissioned its participants to complete activities including getting dressed, paying bills, organizing silverware all under the conditions of the dementia simulation.
"It really shows us how impacted our residents are by the challenges that they face. I feel much more empowered in being able to relate to them now," Courtyard Nursing's Debra Richmond said.
WBZ's Kendall Buhl (@WBZKendall) reports.
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