Torbay care team hosts interactive dementia experience for community

An interactive training experience dubbed ‘The Dementia Bus’ has given local care experts and members of the community an insight into what it’s like to live with dementia.

Local home care provider Bluebird Care Torbay hosted the mobile dementia simulator on its tour of the UK in order to give people across the area the chance to experience first-hand the daily challenges faced by people living with dementia.

Local MP Kevin Foster came along and met with members of the community and charities supporting those with dementia in the community at the bus which was stationed in The Willows Retail Park in Torquay.

Taking part in the training were also representatives from Paignton Memory Cafe, Age UK Torbay, Goodrington Memory Cafe, the NHS and Bluebird Care Torbay team members.

The mobile dementia simulator, provided by Training2Care, gives a person with a healthy brain the chance to experience what dementia might be like by replicating different symptoms and challenges faced by someone with the condition. The medically-proven training method encourages people to understand what they can do to reduce frustration and improve the experiences of a person with dementia.

Participants wear mittens in a thick material to impair their ability to perform tasks or hold items, wear headphones and glasses with altered lenses to impair their vision and make them feel disorientated and navigate dark rooms with coloured lights to add to the disorientation and overall frustration. Participants also wear spiked insoles in their shoes to cause a pins and needles sensation – a common symptom of dementia.

Bluebird Care Torbay works with customers and their families across the local area to support them to stay safe and well at home for as long as possible – including those living with dementia and their families.

Alexander Allan, Director at Bluebird Care Torbay, said:

“This training has shed a new light on the many different symptoms that a person with dementia can be experiencing, to enhance the support we can offer those in our care.”

“We at Bluebird Care Torbay were delighted to invite guests from across our local community, including Kevin Foster MP, into the mobile dementia simulator to increase understanding about how to support those living with the condition.

“To be so moved by a 10-minute experience is truly something. The frustration and anxiety I experienced will live with me for some time. This was better than any classroom session you could do. I nearly cried, and some did.”

“It is estimated that one person develops dementia every three minutes. We are proud to host and sponsor the mobile dementia simulator as it boosts understanding and empathy for people living with the condition in our community and right across the UK.”

Kevin Foster MP, who attended the training experience, commented:

“The dementia training experience organised by Bluebird Care Torbay was an experience I will be recommending some colleagues try. It was a good way get a closer understanding of dementia and how care services interact to support those with the condition."