Qismat Niazi is preparing to enter a Dementia Simulation on March 14 at Chelsea Place, an Aurora residential facility for people with Alzheimer’s and Dementia. During the simulation, senses like vision, hearing, and touch are impaired. She is one of a dozen students from University of Miami that came to Chelsea Place to volunteer for Spring Break. Veronica L Holyfield/Sentinel 
Sathvik Palakurty’s experiences impairment of senses like vision, hearing, and touch during a dementia simulation March 14 at Chelsea Place. Palakurty is one of a dozen students from University of Miami that came to Chelsea Place to volunteer for Spring Break. Photo by Veronica L. Holyfield/Sentinel 
Students from University of Miami prepare to enter a dementia simulation, March 14 at Chelsea Place, an Aurora residential facility for people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. During the simulation, senses like vision, hearing, and touch are impaired. These students chose to volunteer at Chelsea Place during their spring break. Veronica L Holyfield/Sentinel 
Qismat Niazi attempts to button a shirt with gloves on while wearing sensory depravation headphones and sunglasses during a dementia simulation, March 14 at Chelsea Place. She, along with a dozen others, are volunteering at Chelsea Place, during spring break from University of Miami. Veronica L Holyfield/Sentinel 
Simran Gidwani attempts to write a letter with gloves on while wearing sensory depravation headphones and sunglasses during a dementia simulation on March 14 at Chelsea Place. She, along with a dozen others, are volunteering at Chelsea Place during spring break from University of Miami. Veronica L Holyfield/Sentinel
AURORA | Even for the most dedicated caregiver, it can be a stressful and frustrating experience working with patients who have some form of dementia. But that frustration can pale in comparison to the patient’s own frustration, as they try and navigate the world around them while dealing with the memory-robbing symptoms of dementia.
So for nurses and others who provide in-home care, it’s important that they have a first-hand experience in what their clients are dealing with every second of the day.
That’s why a group of students from the University of Miami that spent a week working with residents of Chelsea Place, an assisted-living center provides care for dementia and Alzheimer’s patients, took part in a dementia simulation.
As part of the simulation, the students tried to do daily tasks in a dark room with flashing lights while wearing thick gloves, special glasses, headphones and painful shoe inserts. During the simulation, students struggled to complete the tasks, especially when dealing with trying to pour water into glasses or buttoning a shirt.
“It made me a little more cognizant of what they’re actually going through,” said Hope Cheriam, a freshman at Miami, after she was done with a simulation. “And obviously it’s not going to be the same from person to person. It’s not just that they’re forgetting things. It’s all these other symptoms they’re going through that I may not be able to see.”
The students were taking part in an alternative spring break, which allows students to forgo spending a week at the beach or the club for volunteering for different organizations in communities across the country.
The group had been working with the residents of the center for three days before they got a chance to partake in the simulation. Jenni Dill, life engagement director at Chelsea Place, said she wanted students to have some time with the residents before the simulation so they could have some perspective on their experience.
It’s impossible to truly simulate how patients with dementia interact with the world, said Kim Paul, director of community outreach for Synergy HomeCare, who led the simulation. But Paul said research has shown that the thick gloves, the glasses that restrict vision substantially, the headphones that play static, snipits of multiple conversations or traffic noises, and the sharp shoe inserts all are meant to give the best approximation.
By depriving people of the full use of their senses, it can give them at least a glimpse into what it is like to have them slowly stripped away, Paul said. And that can lead to frustration, which in turn can cause patients to lash out at those trying to provide care.
“We make all of our employees go through this training. It helps to make them sensitive to what the patients are dealing with,” Paul said. “It also helps them realize the frustration the patients are going through … They can think about what actions they can take to help reduce that stress.”
Qismat Niazi, a sophomore, said the experience at Chelsea Place and going through the simulation was one that hit close to home. As a teenager, Niazi took care of her grandmother who had Alzheimer’s, an experience that cemented her desire to study medicine.
“I think I have a pretty good grasp on what it was like but it was still emotional,” Niazi said. “It was really hard. I was focusing 110 percent and I still couldn’t (complete the tasks). And that’s what my grandmother went through. It was definitely learning experience for me, my father and my family to understand my grandmother’s strengths and kind of learn where she was coming from and the ways we could approach it. And going through this now, it definitely solidified that experience for me.”