Cutting Edge Dementia Facility Opens its Doors in Melbourne

[caption id="attachment_5327" align="alignright" width="200"] Alzheimer's Australia Vic new cutting edge facility in Parkville simulates what it's like to live with dementia[/caption]
A new cutting edge dementia facility has opened its doors in Parkville, Victoria, that simulates the experience of living with dementia.The facility was opened by Ita Buttrose AO, OBE, Alzheimer’s Australia National President and Australian of the Year alongside Minister for Ageing David Davis.
Mr Davis said the Australian-first Dementia Learning Centre comes as Alzheimer’s Australia Vic (AAV) celebrates its 30^th anniversary.
Mr Davis said the Dementia Learning Centre uses groundbreaking ‘gaming’ technology to create a virtual reality scenario in which people can learn what it is like to live with dementia.
“This ‘dementia learning experience’ is designed to train aged and health care workers, carers and families how to best support people with the disease,” Mr Davis said. “The facility also showcases the latest design principles that highlight how workspaces, homes and public spaces can become more dementia-friendly.”
Maree McCabe, Alzheimer’s Australia Vic’s CEO said through this undertaking, Alzheimer’s Australia Vic is taking the lead in tackling dementia and ensuring people living with dementia receive the best care and support possible to enable and empower them to have the quality of life they deserve.
“With the prevalence of dementia in Victoria projected to increase to 141,000 by 2030, we are responding to the need we have for new and more sophisticated approaches to learning.
“We are committed to creating the better-skilled, quality aged and healthcare workforce we need for the future. “Being dementia friendly is about developing ways to promote social inclusion as well as awareness about dementia. "It is about the ways in which society as a whole, not just the aged and health care sectors, embraces people with dementia to ensure their needs are addressed in both the physical and social environment,” Ms McCabe said.
A major feature of the project is the Perc Walkley Dementia Learning Centre that will create a multi-sensory simulation using light, sound, colour and visual content while incorporating  ‘serious gaming’ technology to create a virtual reality experience  - Aged and healthcare workers will be taken in to the world of dementia.
The Centre includes doughnut shaped mood lighting, a massive ten metre by two metre wall that can have a seamless image projected across its width and breadth, an interactive touch screen and gesture- sensor technology.
“The intention is to lead our course participants into thinking differently in their approach to caring.
“After 30 years of caring for people with dementia, their carers and families, this facility empowers our organisation to deliver on our purpose and showcase our important dementia friendly design messages throughout Victoria and indeed the world,” Ms McCabe said.
Features such as carpets, wall colour, signage and clear fronted cupboards can greatly impact on a person living with dementia and their ability to successfully negotiate their environment.  The use of the same colour paint on walls, door frames and doors, for example, can make it difficult for some people living with dementia to identify and find their way into a room.
The move to Parkville also opens the doors to the development of stronger relationships and collaboration with research neighbours, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne Brain Centre, National Ageing Research Institute and the University of Melbourne.
Alzheimer's Australia Vic acknowledges the generosity of the Lorenzo and Pamela Galli Charitable Trust, jointly funded by the Commonwealth and State governments through funding from the Home and Community Care Program, and other private donors