Montreal health workers use VR to better understand their patients with dementia [Video]

There is a virtual reality simulation on what it’s like to have dementia and there are hopes that the experience will help health-care workers get a better understanding of their patients.

As the VR headsets come off, understanding sets in: relief, dizziness, and sadness are just some of the reactions the workers experience.

“It’s really scary,” said Saida Belmihoub of the CHSLD Auclair. “I just wanted to cry. That affected me so much.”

Belmihoub and others at the Montreal-North health board are stepping into the shoes of a man named Edie. He wakes up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, seeing and hearing the world through his eyes and ears.

Dementia can distort the senses — even a safe space can feel dangerous. The goal is to give doctors, nurses, and long-term care workers more insight into their patients’ lives.

“That little five-minute experience helped …