Watermark Senior Housing Facility Helps Families Understand Dementia
By Hadas Kuznits
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Staff at the The Watermark Senior Housing Facility have started implementing a weekly program aimed at teaching faculty and family members what it's like to have dementia.
Amy Snyder, skilled nursing home administrator at The Watermark and facilitator of The Virtual Dementia Tour, says the program literally puts a person into the shoes of someone with dementia: "So we can garb them in products that have them feel like they have dementia. We have to give them tasks to do in an apartment that really makes them have a little bit of difficulty doing those tasks."
She says faced with these challenges, those participating in the program looked like many of the clients she cares for who suffer from dementia, "They wandered around the room just really looking for the things that they needed to do. They talked to themselves and mumbled to themselves."
The result was greater empathy among participants.
"Our family member that have done it so far, they absolutely said I know now, I need to take more time with my mom. I know now I need to be slower with her."
