Hospice workers in Tampa experience what it feels like to live with dementia

Hospice workers in Tampa experience what it feels like to live with dementia
Fox 13 Tampa Bay, FL; by Kailey Tracy; 2/19/25 
Keosha Simmons says her father, who died in 2018, was a hard worker and an amazing man. ... "He did live with dementia. It was an early onset of dementia. He ended up with cancer, and it was a later stage when we found out about it, and that's when he came under the care of Empath Health Suncoast Hospice," Simmons said. Simmons is now the Director of Empath’s Community Engagement team. On Wednesday, Simmons and her team did a different kind of training. It was a hands-on simulation to experience what someone with dementia feels. [From this article's "The Brief" Summary.]

• Tampa’s Empath Health Suncoast Hospice staff members received hands-on training to help them better understand what it feels like living with dementia.
• Through glasses and headphones, the staff members saw and heard what people with dementia see and hear.
• The staff, including the Director of Empath’s Community Engagement team, say the experience was eye-opening.
• [Click on the title's link for descriptions of this insightful education.]
  

Editor's note: This easy-to-replicate education is rich for all IDG members, patient care volunteers, and your leadership.(Yes, especially your non-clinical leadership.) Click here for the Alzheimer's Assocation public education.