Virtual-reality boost for Alzheimer’s care

Professional carers are being encouraged to see the world through their patients’ eyes with the help of a 20kg “dementia suit” which restricts vision and movement and uses virtual reality to induce confusion.

Great Oaks care home in Bournemouth ran the “fully immersive experience” this week, reports Care Home Professional. The event, part of World Alzheimer’s Month, was intended to increase understanding of the condition and improve standards of care.

The virtual-reality environment is “scary, intimidating, confusing” and creates a “feeling of vulnerability”, according to Training 2 Care, the company which ran the sessions. It says VR “is medically and scientifically proven to be the closest that we can give a person with a healthy brain an experience of what dementia might be like”.

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The technology might soon be used to help dementia sufferers as well as carers. Earlier this year, Wired reported that a British healthcare start-up, VRTU, has developed a virtual “reminiscence therapy” app. It creates a VR environment designed to reawaken memories in a range of target age groups.

One mode simulates the experience of being on Brighton beach in the 1970s, another a 1950s tea shop. Caregivers watch via a tablet as patients wear the VR visor – and the firm supplies a list of suggested questions to ask to stimulate conversation.

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