Orange County, CA - August 31st, 2018 - Neurodegenerative illnesses like Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease affect many of your body’s daily activities like talking, breathing, balance, movement, and heart function. Many people who have a Neurodegenerative illness have difficulty connecting with reality; they might need to connect to another person in a non-verbal way by touching or listening to music, or smelling something pleasant.
Gabriela Gomes, a graduate of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, was undecided on what to write her Masters of Fine Arts thesis project on. She knew she wanted to help elders through their healing process. “I thought about my own grandparents, and in particular, one of my grandmothers who had a form of dementia in the latest years of her life. She has lost the ability to connect with the world around her, to her family and friends and so my goal was to design a tool I wish I had access to while she was still alive.” Gomes said.
With that in mind, Gomes created “Healing Spaces,” a multi-sensory experience with the purpose to create a deeply engaging experience that would improve all-around patient care. This project is designed to help people suffering from neurodegenerative illnesses and their caregivers. Healing Spaces uses a smart lighting system, a projected image, music, sound effects, and other settings within an iOS app to create a calming atmosphere for those who have sensory perception issues.
Caregivers can pick a scene in the app, which is either a forest scene or a beach scene. It includes a sensory box with items to touch; the forest has aromatherapy that smells like pine trees, and the beach there are items like sand, or lotion that smells like sunscreen. The patient is then “transported” there with the help of smells, sounds, and feeling.
“If it is successful here, of course, we would want to implement it possibly at all of our communities,” said Megan Park, a project coordinator for Front Porch.
Gabriela plans to complete a second pilot to better understand to what extent the game is successful in helping reduce agitation and increase engagement among older adults. Healing Spaces ended up in Paste Magazine’s Top 10 games at E3; it also was one of six finalists in a challenge put forth by design firm IDEO to create for family members caring for someone with dementia.
