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TWIN FALLS, Idaho (AP) - Three College of Southern Idaho students are hoping a common pastime for the young could help combat Alzheimer's in the elderly.
The students - all studying psychiatric nursing - are researching ways in which the Nintendo Wii video game system could be used as therapy for Alzheimer's patients.
The Wii uses a wireless controller that reads the motions of the person wielding it and translates the motions into actions on a television screen. The console has already been tested as a therapy device by a range of hospitals, including a U.S. Army hospital in Germany and a nursing home in Illinois.
Now Don Rock, Miguel Hernandez and Tiffany Downs will take own of the machines to SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation in Twin Falls, The Times-News reported. They hope to determine if residents of the center who are suffering from Alzheimer's can gain any benefit from a few rounds of video baseball.
Nursing home workers are optimistic. Residents get a lot out of tactile, interactive activities, said Dawn Meyer, the center's Alzheimer's program director.
"We're very into culture change," Meyer said. "Them touching something and swinging - I think they'll really enjoy that."
Rock and his fellow students came up with the idea last spring after reading other reports on use of the device as therapy for strokes and other illnesses.
"(People who used the console) were just having the time of their lives," Rock said.
At SunBridge, domestic environments - such as a standard kitchen or a backyard with laundry lines - are reproduced to give Alzheimer's patients some of the routine they used to have. Students say the machine should fit right in.
"The approach is to make life more normal for them," Rock said.
Full Link: http://www.kidk.com/news/health/9947361.html
The students - all studying psychiatric nursing - are researching ways in which the Nintendo Wii video game system could be used as therapy for Alzheimer's patients.
The Wii uses a wireless controller that reads the motions of the person wielding it and translates the motions into actions on a television screen. The console has already been tested as a therapy device by a range of hospitals, including a U.S. Army hospital in Germany and a nursing home in Illinois.
Now Don Rock, Miguel Hernandez and Tiffany Downs will take own of the machines to SunBridge Care and Rehabilitation in Twin Falls, The Times-News reported. They hope to determine if residents of the center who are suffering from Alzheimer's can gain any benefit from a few rounds of video baseball.
Nursing home workers are optimistic. Residents get a lot out of tactile, interactive activities, said Dawn Meyer, the center's Alzheimer's program director.
"We're very into culture change," Meyer said. "Them touching something and swinging - I think they'll really enjoy that."
Rock and his fellow students came up with the idea last spring after reading other reports on use of the device as therapy for strokes and other illnesses.
"(People who used the console) were just having the time of their lives," Rock said.
At SunBridge, domestic environments - such as a standard kitchen or a backyard with laundry lines - are reproduced to give Alzheimer's patients some of the routine they used to have. Students say the machine should fit right in.
"The approach is to make life more normal for them," Rock said.
Full Link: http://www.kidk.com/news/health/9947361.html
