It’s the holiday season, which is also arguably the busiest time of the year. This season is no different-- but it came with early presents and hopes for the future! Looking forward, technology will continue to be an essential part of our lives, so in this post, I will be discussing an innovative and viable use of technology in senior care: VR and reminiscence therapy.
First, let me answer the question: what is reminiscence therapy? As the name sounds, reminiscence therapy involves sharing past activities, events, and experiences, usually with other people and the help of one’s senses. For example, aural can involve listening to past favorite music, smell and taste can involve baking a childhood favorite cake, visual can involve looking at photographs, and tactile can involve painting or sewing. An important aspect of reminiscence therapy to keep in mind is that it’s different from remembering: for example, instead of asking questions as if trying to test memories, like “where did you grow up?”, reminiscing more involves sharing memories together, perhaps looking at a photo of a birthday party and recounting stories about it. Reminiscence therapy is often used for seniors with dementia, and because its implementations can vary greatly, not much definitive scientific conclusions have been drawn about it. Nevertheless, reminiscence therapy may have positive benefits on cognition, mood, and communication for those with dementia. Now, how can virtual reality be applied to reminiscence therapy? VR is particularly useful for visual techniques in reminiscence therapy. Take Inspīr senior living’s experience with VR as an example. As explained by chief clinical officer Brian Geyser, a resident with dementia at Inspīr from Sweden had a hard time communicating with others, so they decided to try using VR reminiscence therapy with her. Set up with the VR headgear, projections of the resident’s hometown and university where she taught at were displayed using Google Earth. Suddenly, the resident became attentive and excited, pointing out places in her native language to everyone around her. VR has the potential to elevate reminiscence therapy. It takes a photograph and makes it alive through immersing the patient directly into it. Furthermore, VR can take a person anywhere: from their university in Sweden to the living room they lived in their whole youth, or perhaps on a hot air balloon above Cappadocia! Such projections involve more than just one sense, combining multiple to create a captivating and more powerful experience. And as VR becomes less costly and more common in everyday life, the possibility of its application in senior care becomes a reality. Here are a couple companies with VR headsets dedicated for seniors: MyndVR Virtue Health The Wayback
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Throughout the United States and across the world, a topic sparking much alarm and urgency is the disproportionate amount of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes and the even larger share of deaths. It breaks my heart to hear the news about these residences being devastated by COVID-19, so I looked into research trying to understand underlying reasons for this. I’ve learned that the inherent characteristics of nursing homes make them more vulnerable: residents likely have underlying medical conditions and the communal setting makes it easier for transmission. Previous research has confirmed that urban location and larger facility size of the nursing home are related to the nursing home having COVID-19 cases. After thinking, this intuitively makes sense: a higher population density makes it harder to social distance, and a larger facility means there’s more traffic of staff in and out of the nursing home. I also watched a webinar hosted by the NIA IMPACT Collaboratory, which affirmed that facilities with COVID-19 cases were likely to be larger, in urban areas, and in states with more cases.
After going through this existing research, I realized most studies are only on nursing homes. What about other types of long term care facilities? Less research has been done on the transmission of COVID-19 in other facilities and comparing the outbreaks to those in nursing homes, although there are many distinctions between the types of facilities, the main one being that nursing homes are more focused on providing medical care for residents. This sparked an idea: I wanted to visualize the different patterns of COVID-19 cases in nursing homes vs other facilities, so I created a map. The map consists of outbreaks in licensed nursing homes and residential care facilities for the elderly (RCFEs; encompass assisted living, memory care, and continuum of care communities) in Los Angeles County, and I also included layers to compare the cases within the racial composition and median income of the area they are located in. The COVID-19 cases are grouped by zip code in order to depict the outbreaks in a community as a whole.
Here is my first map of LA County (the case numbers are not being updated). The nursing home cases are displayed for all of California, while the RCFE cases are only displayed for LA County. To view the legend, click on the arrow button on the top left:
I also recently created a similar map for Austin, TX, with case numbers that are up to date. Here, the exact locations of long term care facilities with cases are displayed: A clear major difference between nursing homes and RCFEs is that there are fewer cases of COVID-19 in RCFEs. I think this could be due to the differences in care and living between nursing homes and RCFEs, like residents being more independent in RCFEs and staff providing less hands-on care. Furthermore, unlike nursing homes, residential care facilities are not federally regulated, but rather states set most regulations, so the quality can greatly vary between facilities. This also means that COVID-19 responses for these facilities can vary greatly between states— yet another factor that could contribute to the presence of COVID-19 cases. Therefore, there may be many more variables to consider with regards to COVID-19 cases in other long term care facilities than in nursing homes. As the extent of the spread of COVID-19 in a community contributes to its transmission into long term care facilities, it is everyone’s responsibility to protect the residents living in them. In order for us to understand this and take necessary precautions, we also need a clear picture of the COVID-19 situation of the long term care facilities in our own communities. Therefore, I believe it’s important to create visualizations of the long term care facility data that are easy and quick to understand and on a local level. This can help the general public to recognize where outbreaks occur, focus appropriate attention and resources, and consciously take action to lessen the spread of COVID-19 to those most vulnerable in the community. Sources
It’s so crazy to think about how much our world has changed this year. COVID-19 has completely changed the way we interact with each other. Although restrictions are loosening and places are opening up, it’s still necessary to take precautions, especially with the elderly. Today, I want to focus on how COVID-19 affects those with dementia.
There’s no doubt that COVID-19 is especially dangerous for the elderly, but there’s an even higher risk for people with dementia. This is because those with dementia are likely to also have other health problems, like cardiovascular disease and pneumonia, and behaviors related to dementia can increase the risk of them contracting COVID-19. For example, since a characteristic of dementia is memory loss, they may have difficulties remembering safety measures to take, like washing hands or covering coughs. Individuals with more advanced stages of dementia may not fully understand the current situation and risks due to overall cognitive impairment. Those living in long term care facilities are also cut off from their family and friends, which can worsen confusion and stress. Social distancing in general interferes with the social activities, exercise groups, and other types of meaningful activities that are important parts of daily life. Therefore, it’s necessary to provide not only protection against the virus, but also care for mental and physical well being. Both caregivers and patients have roles to play in staying healthy and connected. Here are some examples:
Hi everyone! I came across this inspiring documentary, Alive Inside, towards the beginning of my journey researching music and memory. I think this documentary is a great introduction to music's impact on seniors, and anyone interested in this topic should watch it!
What is this documentary about? Alive Inside follows Dan Cohen, the founder of Music & Memory. Music & Memory is a nonprofit organization that focuses on music therapy as a way to unlock memories and comforting emotions in seniors with dementia. The documentary captures a few different seniors and their reactions to listening to beloved music from their childhood. It’s so inspiring to see these seniors literally wake up when they listen to the music. The documentary is also very informational on some shortcomings of the current healthcare system, demonstrating how some seniors react negatively to traditional care methods, like taking medicine. The documentary even includes interview clips with neurologist Oliver Sacks! Here is a touching clip from the documentary of a senior who was usually unresponsive, but when listening to music, became animated and alive again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HLEr-zP3fc I’ve also included a couple more documentaries about seniors with dementia that are on my list to watch soon. I love watching documentaries as a way to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease and caring for seniors because they enable the viewer to visually see the impact of memory loss and how effective different methods of treatment are. Memory for Max, Claire, Ida and Company
I Remember Better When I Paint
Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts
The Alzheimer's Project
Do You Know What My Name Is?
I think we can all agree that this is a strange time, and I’ll just state the obvious reason why: the coronavirus, or COVID-19. Here are some quick facts about the virus, although you’re already probably aware of them, as coronavirus has dominated the news, social media, and dinner conversations.
How can we explain the obligation to take care of our elders?
The first theory is the reciprocity norm, which is basically the social norm that if someone helps us or gives us something, we are expected to return the favor. As children, older people have taken care of us. For me, my parents have obviously raised me by providing a home, food, and opportunities. However, they have also received help from their parents, or my grandparents. From helping out when I was a baby to watching over me when I was a child when my parents were working, my grandparents have also played a big role in my upbringing. Therefore, as they grow older, the obligation to take care of them not only falls on my parents, but also myself. However, a criticism of this is that it’s a parent’s moral responsibility to take care of their children, so there isn’t necessarily a debt that needs to be repaid on the child’s behalf. Another theory is that children take care of their older parents because of the relationship between them, not because of owing something. Ideally, the relationship between parent and child is one of friendship. In this type of relationship, both sides look out for each other out of kindness, so the child takes care of their parents because they care for their wellbeing. Of course, this model doesn’t work when the relationship between parent and child is strained in some way, and there are no feelings of friendship. The last theory I want to explore is the special relationship between parent and child. Parents don’t get to choose what child they get to be parents of, and children don’t get to choose who they get born to. This creates a special bond because in other relationships we can choose who we want to be with, like our friends. Therefore, the love between parent and child is unconditional and unchosen. This relationship is also the stem to other familial relationships, like with grandparents, siblings, cousins, so it can therefore be seen as beneficial. To continue this relationship through age, it’s often on the child to keep in contact with their parents or check in on how they’re doing. Obviously, the individual situations of the child-parent relationship are different. If parents adopted their child, isn’t this technically choosing a child, which contradicts the third theory? If a child’s parents pass away when they are young, and they go live with someone else, do these new people assume the same role and relationship with the child as their parents did? Abusive or neglectful parents and poor living conditions can also alter the child-parent relationship. Therefore, it’s important to consider the unique circumstances surrounding this relationship because it’s more likely not the ideal model. |
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