Virtual Dementia Tour Offers Insight Into Disease

The Virtual Dementia Tour, an educational program developed by non-profit Second Wind Dreams, offers participants a first-hand experience of what it is like to live with dementia. The goal of the tour is to give family, friends and caregivers new strategies to better care for those with dementia along with an appreciation of what daily life feels like from the inside.

With the help of headsets that create background noise, gloves which simulate loss of fine motor skills, glasses that simulate macular degeneration and shoe inserts that mimic peripheral neuropathy (pins and needles caused by nerve deterioration), participants can better understand what a person living with dementia faces each day.

The number of people with dementia worldwide is estimated at 47.5 million, according to the World Health Organization and that number is expected to triple by 2050.  With the help of the virtual tour, caregivers can better understand dementia and increase sensitivity towards those living with the disease.

Event and training information is available online.  Family editions of the tour can also be ordered.  Visit  http://www.secondwind.org/ to learn more.