'I had dementia for eight minutes' - reporter Chad Nugent takes on Mobile Virtual Dementia Tour at Mistley Manor

Reporter Chad Nugent got to experience what it was like to live with the disease when the Mobile Virtual Dementia Tour – a machine which simulates the effects of dementia - was launched at luxury care home Mistley Manor.

I FELT what it was like to have dementia for less than ten minutes – but it was still a horrific experience.

I entered the Mobile Virtual Dementia Tour, which was being launched in the UK by Training 2 Care at Mistley Manor in Long Road, and was kitted out with various different pieces of equipment designed to replicate the symptoms sufferers go through 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The first were bobbled shoe inserts designed to mirror pain felt by elderly people suffering from peripheral neuropathy – tingling or burning in the extremities – which can often be mistaken for dementia sufferers refusing to stand up when actually they just don’t want to because they are anticipating pain.

I also wore dark glasses that blocked my peripheral vision – a symptom of dementia. They had a yellow haze that blocks out most of what light was in the darkened room, apart from continual flashing red and green lights.

Two sets of gloves were put on to make performing simple tasks even more difficult, while headphones piped in loud background chatter, punctuated with loud noises like alarms, sirens and slamming doors, which dementia sufferers hear all the time, even during their limited sleep.

I was given five instructions to follow, but could only make out the word “socks” from any of them, so set about attempting to pair a number that I could find on a messy couch.

After watching my vain attempts to complete the simple task, an observer began to stand by me and my befuddled brain had tricked me into thinking he was a threat, so I immediately stopped what I was doing.

It took me 30 seconds to realise I could walk past him without him hurting me and I was then instructed simply to do something useful.

I then set about attempting to tidy the couch and complete a children’s jigsaw puzzle nearby, but my attempts were thwarted by the steward messing up my work just as it neared completion.

My brain was scrambled and my legs had turned to jelly thanks to the constant noises and distractions.

After completing the tour, I was told I had reacted almost exactly like a mid-stage sufferer of vascular dementia and was sure I never wanted to experience another eight minutes of that again, let alone every second until the day I died.

The inventor of the machine, Atlanta-based professor PK Beville, has been working with the elderly since 1983 and designed the machine in 2000.

She has teamed up with Feering-based company Training 2 Care and the newmobile experience is set to visit care homes, schools, police and fire stations to allow workers around the country to be given the chance to empathise with people whose body has outlived their brains.

Dementia is set to become the biggest killer in the UK in the next ten years, and currently lies in eighth place. It is the only disease in the top ten which currently does not have a cure.Amassive 44.4 million people worldwide are currently diagnosed.

Dr Beville has taken the Virtual Dementia Tour to 19 countries and it has become part of the curriculum for health and social care students in North America.

She said: “We have to get comfortable with talking about dementia.

“We have to stop people keeping their family member’s suffering a secret before it becomes a catastrophe.

“The biggest mistake we make is treating dementia sufferers like they are mentally ill. It is a physical illness like diabetes and is caused by, well, death in the brain.”

Mistley Manor was chosen as the launch premises because Training 2 Care managing director Glenn Knight believes they are one of the top two care homes in the country.

He said: “The level of dedication from the staff here is phenomenal – you can have the best premises in the world, but you need the staff to know how to look after people with dementia.

“There is only one more in the country close to this standard, which is why we wanted to launch the product here.”

As well as having permanent residents, clients can drop into Mistley Manor for respite care when loved ones take well-deserved breaks.

Such is the luxury and high quality of the facilities, the trade magazine has nicknamed the home a Care Hotel.

All members of staff at the 66-bed site have been through the dementia experience to allow them to empathise with patients they come into contact with. Family members of patients have also been invited to take part.

Owner Mike Volf said: “It is about training people to look for signs before they reach that stage, which is why it is an important part of the training purpose for staff.

“Some people think they know, but it is very difficult to have a really full understanding.”