A group of The Terraces residents who participated in a VR session earlier this year found themselves paddling their arms alongside their chairs as they swam with a pod of dolphins while watching one of Rendever's 3D programs.“We got to go underwater and didn't even have to hold our breath!” exclaimed 81-year-old Ginny Baird following the virtual submersion.During a session featuring a virtual ride in a hot-air balloon, one resident gasped, “Oh my God!” Another shuddered, “It's hard to watch!” The Rendever technology can also be used to virtually take older adults back to the places where they grew up as children.
For some, it will be the first time they've seen their hometowns in decades.A virtual trip to her childhood neighborhood in New York City's Queens borough helped sell Sue Livingstone, 84, on the merits of the VR technology even though she still is able to get out more often than many residents of The Terraces, which is located in Silicon Valley about 55 miles south of San Francisco.“It turns into a conversation starter for them.It really does connect people,” Marshall said of Rendever's VR programming.“It helps create a human bridge that makes them realize they share certain similarities and interests.
It turns the artificial world into reality.”Some studies have found VR programming presented in a limited viewing format can help older people maintain and improve cognitive functions, burnish memories and foster social connections with their families and fellow residents of care facilities.Experts say the technology may be useful as an addition to and not a replacement for other activities.“There is always a risk of too much screen time," Katherine “Kate” Dupuis, a neuropsychologist and professor who studies aging issues at Sheridan College in Canada, said.“But if you use it cautiously, with meaning and purpose, it can be very helpful.
It can be an opportunity for the elderly to engage with someone and share a sense of wonder.”Popular Reads9-year-old Melodee Buzzard fatally shot during road trip, mom arrested: SheriffDec 23, 6:16 PMWoman fatally stabbed at Barnes & Noble store in apparently unprovoked attack: PoliceDec 24, 11:50 AMRob Reiner's son arrested for murder in stabbing death of famed director, wifeDec 15, 6:39 PMVR headsets may be an easier way for older people to interact with technology instead of fumbling around with a smartphone or another device that requires navigating buttons or other mechanisms, said Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is examining the use of VR with older adults.“The stereotypes that older adults aren’t willing to try new technology needs to change because they are willing and want to adapt to technologies that are meaningful to them,” Bhowmick said."Besides helping them to relieve stress, be entertained and connect with other people, there is an intergenerational aspect that might help them build their relationships with younger people who find out they use VR and say, ‘Grandpa is cool!’"Besides helping create social connections, the VR programming from both Rendever and Mynd has been employed as a possible tool for potentially slowing down the deleterious effects of dementia.
That's how another Silicon Valley retirement village, the Forum, sometimes uses the technology.Bob Rogallo, a Forum resident with dementia that has rendered him speechless, seemed to be enjoying taking a virtual hike through Glacier National Park in Montana as he nodded and smiled while celebrating his 83rd birthday with his wife of 61 years.Sallie Rogallo, who doesn't have dementia, said the experience brought back fond memories of the couple's visits to the same park during the more than 30 years they spent cruising around the U.S.in their recreational vehicle.
“It made me wish I was 30 years younger so I could do it again,” she said of the virtual visit to Glacier.“This lets you get out of the same environment and either go to a new place or visit places where you have been.”In another session at the Forum, 93-year-old Almut Schultz laughed with delight while viewing a virtual classical music performance at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado and later seemed to want to play with a puppy frolicking around in her VR headset.“That was quite a session we had there,” Schultz said with a big grin after she took off her headset and returned to reality.
