With Virtual Reality, Caregivers Can Become Patients

The NY Times reports on Carrie Shaw’s struggle with her mother’s dementia and how it led her to create a company that allows users to experience the struggles of growing older.

 

When Carrie Shaw was a freshman at the University of North Carolina, her mother, then 49, learned she had early-stage Alzheimer’s disease.

“I was really scared of my mom’s diagnosis,” said Ms. Shaw, founder and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based Embodied Labs, an immersive educational technology company that uses virtual reality software to train health care professionals who work with older adults.

“I had that avoidance reaction to let the family figure it out without me,” she said. “So after I graduated, I joined the Peace Corps for a two-year stint in the Dominican Republic. I wanted to help and serve, but didn’t know how to in my own family.”

When she was 24, though, she faced it. Ms. Shaw, who has an undergraduate degree in public health, moved back to her family home in Winston-Salem, N.C., to be a full-time caregiver. “At that point, my mom had fairly advanced dementia, but it was so meaningful to be with her, and we built a special relationship,” she said.

You can read the full article from the NY Times here.

Posted on: September 4, 2020 | Filed under:

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