Dementia tour bus visits Letterkenny in immersive educational tour

Home healthcare provider, Dovida, brought their Virtual Dementia Tour to Letterkenny, as part of a nationwide campaign to provide family members of people living with dementia an insight into their loved one’s experience of the condition.

Letterkenny was one of 25 planned locations of Dovida’s Virtual Dementia Tour, which will see 800 people take part throughout the campaign.

As well as offering family members a valuable insight into the inner life of someone living with dementia, the company is using the dementia bus as a vehicle to give its caregivers and local healthcare professionals an immersive training experience. 

The ‘dementia bus’ uses technology to replicate the sensory changes associated with dementia, with participants wearing goggles, headphones, and spiky insoles and asked to perform everyday tasks, but with distorted vision, loud noises, and sensory overload, which recreates what it is like to have dementia.

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General Manager of Dovida Donegal, Roberta Cuddy, said: “This is a uniquely immersive training course which allows people to walk in the shoes of a person living with dementia

“There are currently over 64,000 people living with dementia in Ireland, and that number is projected to double by 2045. It’s crucial that as many people as possible gain a better understanding of the condition, so we can empathise with what people are going through.

“As well as the practical element of home care, the emotional and companionship elements are also hugely important. Initiatives such as the dementia bus help us to build on our current training and empower our caregivers to deliver the best possible care and support to our clients.”