Has anyone been to a program sponsored by the Alzheimer Assoc. "Virtual Tour and Presentation on Behaviors and Communication"? The one I went to yesterday was given by a private medical group. The first step was to fill out a questionnaire. I should have brought the thing with me because I don't remember the exact questions but it was to determine what a person with dementia thought, felt, etc. I didn't get past this because I kept asking the young man what stage is this person in, what time of day is it, what type of dementia does this person have? If I had stayed the next step was to do a "virtual tour" of a day for a dementia patient. I finally told him I'd lived it 24/7 and there was no typical day and if you had seen one person with dementia you'd seen one person with dementia. I guess if I wasn't still so tender with all this I could have gone through with it. I had gone with the idea I would meet others still on the journey and could offer some support or understanding. Most of the ones there I think were just for education because they mentioned points or something of the kind. Probably the medical company also got points for advertisement. Just wasn't for me and I wondered if this was a nationwide program. I came away thinking you can't do a virtual tour of dementia it's real life when it is in your house.
No, I haven't been to it but after going to a few other programs sponsored by the Alzheimer's Assn., I am not surprised that you found this one to be lacking. The programs I have attended seem to assume that the audience members are sightly above ignorant. I think they just want to give a basic introduction to people who know very little about this group of diseases. And maybe that's apppropriate, since the general public seems to have little knowledge about the subject. And if I may add, little interest in it.
The most recent program I went to presented a video entitled, "Is It Alzheimer's Or Is It Dementia?" I was really disgusted by the "OR" -- suggesting that one condition necessarily excluded the other one. I'm not going to waste my time with them any more. The people on this site have more to offer as far as knowledge and practical information.
I haven't heard of that either and also question the benefit. My wife has been in a home for 2 1/2 years and I haven't seen anyone in there I would compare her situation or her own journey too.
Florence, I did one of those Virtual Tours sponsored by the Alzheimer' Association several years ago. I don't think the intent was to grade you on the questionnaire as to what you knew about the disease, but merely to get you to write down something and then see if your perceptions might have changed after taking the tour itself. The tour consisted of placing some sort of spiky insoles in your shoes to make them mildly uncomfortable, placing thick mittens over your hands to reduce tactile sensitivity, goggles over your eyes that obscured all but your very central vision, and that very dimly, headphones over your ears playing confusing background sounds occasionally punctuated with sirens, giving you a list of four simple tasks to perform, and then injecting you into an almost completely dark room filled with all sorts of confusing stuff. One of my assigned tasks was to hang the sweater up on the coat rack, another was to fold clothes from the dryer, etc. I decided that my first priority would be to do the sweater task, and in the five or ten minutes I was in that room I never found either the sweater or coat rack, although I do recall encountering a pile of clothes on a table and I guess if I had been thinking right I might at least have begun folding them. The object seemed to be to try to simulate the very confusing world that our LOs must have to live in.
After reading Gourdchipper's comment, I understand what this is now. It looks like a variation on an exercise that is used in some high schools, where students who are not disabled spend the whole school day in wheelchairs. This helps the students to become aware of what it is like to have a disability. Since the other people at the program you attended were at were talking about getting "points," maybe they were there to earn continuing education credits that are required by their professions or their jobs.
I can see why you would want to meet others who could offer some support or understanding but as you say, this program seems to be mostly educational or informational, which you don't need. Maybe a support group sponsored by the Association would offer more in the way of support and understanding.
>>maybe they were there to earn continuing education credits that are required by their professions or their jobs.<<
This is likely. At least in my experience, licensing and certification programs in the behavioral sciences, either annually or bi-annually run from July 01-June 30. CLE's or CEU's have to accrue during that period and fees have to be paid to the state and/or licensing authorities. Pretty expensive too if one is an independent practitioner.
Thanks for your input. This was held at an ALF with a Lantern wing for az people so I assumed that it was for the families of those folks. Just shows never assume anything. If it was advertised as a continuing ed seminar I completely missed that. When I attempted to contact an az support group at the beginning of Frank's dementia I found the local group big on fund raising and short on support. They've left a bad taste in my mouth again. Thanks to Joan I found a real support group with real knowledge. Still struggling to adjust and more sensitive than I want to admit.