Virtual games help dementia patients

Baking a cake, doing a quiz or playing air hockey are just some of the virtual activities patients at Tonbridge Community Hospital are enjoying thanks to a new interactive projector.

The OMI interactive software mobile projector is a neat bit of kit that offers simple but effective activities designed to help those living with dementia.

Hundreds of games are loaded on to the system and can be projected on to a smooth, flat surface such as a table or the floor or on a patients bedding if they are unable to leave their bed.

Patients then use sweeping motions with their hands or feet to move the objects – eggs, footballs, pucks, planets – across the surface as part of the game.

It was initially being used by the Therapy Team at Tonbridge for exercise and rehabilitation purposes; therapeutic workers on the ward are now using it with the in-patients with positive results.

KCHFT’s Specialist Nurse for Dementia Grahame Hardy said: “It’s a fantastic piece of technology that helps movement, interaction and engagement for all our patients. By playing the games, our patients are challenged to think, remember, engage and ultimately have fun too.”