Using virtual reality to teach medical students empathy for elders
Alfred is an older man with macular degeneration, hearing loss and some mild cognitive issues. He's celebrating his 74th birthday with his family, but they treat him more like a 7-year-old.
He spills his wine and thinks he hears his family say something about a doctor, but their voices are muffled. He turns his head to the side to get a full look at his daughter's face because the macular degeneration has caused a big, black circle in the center of his vision.
His mind wanders to a mountaintop where he picks flowers and throws them off the edge. Soon, he's at a doctor's office being evaluated.
Alfred is not the patient, however. He's a teacher.
"We are Alfred" is a pioneering virtual reality program where students don a headset to experience first-hand what it is like to be an older adult living with these common conditions.
Students at the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine in Maine - the state with the oldest population in the country - are among the first in the world to use this program as a means to learn empathy for their patients.
The students become Alfred for just over seven minutes, seeing the world through his nearly blind eyes and struggling to hear as the family sings "Happy Birthday." The way family members treat Alfred sticks with students, which they said they will remember when treating older patients.
Rocheleau said the experience was surprisingly emotional, making him feel "alone and saddened."
"Others within the story were not aware of what I was going through, and I think that made me feel that sense of being alone," he said. "The interactions I had with the folks in the story were one-sided, people talked down to me and at me. I never felt part of the conversation."
See the full story here: http://www.unionleader.com/silver-linings/Using-virtual-reality-to-teach-medical-students-empathy-for-elders-10292017