Courtesy WAOW / ABC Pathfire
What was once a well lit room, not seems dim. Seemingly simple tasks like
setting the table, or folding clothes, are now a challenge. Nancy Cedar's mother
suffers from a form of dementia. While this is just a test for her, for her
mother it's her every day life.
"I just thought I would really like the opportunity to walk in her shoes for
a little bit," Cedar said.
That's why Cedar decided to take the "Virtual Tour of Dementia" at the Homme
House, an adult day center, in Wausau.
"We want people to walk away with a better understanding of what the disease
is and a better understanding of what people go through and why they act the way
they do," Stephen Seybold said. Seybold is the executive director for Homme
Inc.
Complete with yellow tinted goggles, beaded shoe inserts, thick glove and
headphones spitting out a variety of noises, Cedar attempted to navigate through
basic tasks.
"Visually it's extremely hard. I know I'm supposed to write a note to my
family but I'm not able to see where that is," Cedar explained as she made her
way around the room searching for the notepad she was supposed to
find.
"Now that I found the paper, it's pointless, I can't see anything
I'm writing," Cedar explained.
"I got into that room and I didn't know what I
needed to do. It was very, very unsettling."
Unsettling or not, it did
provide Cedar with a new perspective on her mother's disease.
"It made me
realize I need to be a better guide, and I need to anticipate more things than I
do now," Cedar said.
Program leaders say that's exactly the point.
