Workers at Gloucester House are learning how to walk in the shoes of their patients who have dementia with the help of a virtual dementia tour that simulates the illness.

On March 15, the virtual tour team from Commonwealth Assisted Living, Gloucester House’s parent company, spent the day at the assisted living facility, walking employees (and this Gazette-Journal reporter) through the tour.

Before going through the tour together, RMA CNA Gloria Medeiros, housekeeping/nursing assistant Marie Stokes, and I donned gloves to simulate the loss of fine motor skills. We also put on headsets that emitted various background noises that might be heard in a bustling dining room, along with eyeglasses that simulated macular degeneration, a common eye condition that causes a dark circle to appear over whatever a person might be looking at. Finally, we placed plastic inserts in our shoes to simulate the effect of peripheral neuropathy (a pins-and-needles feeling caused by nerve deterioratio...