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Like many retirement communities, The Terraces serves as a quiet haven for a group of older people who can no longer travel to faraway places or engage in adventures.
But whenever community caretakers in Los Gatos, California set a date for residents — many of whom are in their 80s and 90s — they can still step back to their wandering and adventure-seeking days — taking turns wearing virtual reality headsets.
In just a few minutes, the headset can get them there EuropePlunge them into the depths of the ocean or fly them on breathtaking hang-gliding expeditions while sitting next to each other. The VR programming was selected by Rendever, a company that has transformed a sometimes-isolating form of technology into a catalyst for improved cognition and social interactions in 800 retirement communities. United States of America And Canada,
A group of The Terraces residents attending a VR session earlier this year found themselves paddling along with their chairs with their hands while swimming with a pod of dolphins while watching one of Rendezvous’s 3D programs. “We had to go underwater and we didn’t even have to hold our breath!” Ginny Baird, 81, said after the virtual immersion.
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!”
Rendover technology can also be used to virtually transport older adults back to the places where they grew up as children. For some, it will be the first time they have seen their hometown in decades.
A virtual tour of her childhood neighborhood in the Queens borough of New York City helped sell 84-year-old Sue Livingstone on the merits of VR technology, though she’s still 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’s not just about being able to see it again, it’s about all the memories it brings back,” Livingstone said. “There are some people out there who never really leave their comfort zone. But if you can get them to come down to try a headset, they’ll find they really enjoy it.”
Adrian Marshall, director of community life for The Terraces, said that once word about the VR experience spreads from one resident to another, usually more and more people become eager to try it — even if it means missing out on playing Mexican Train, a dominoes-like board game that is popular in the community.
“It turns it into a conversation starter for them. It really connects people,” Marshall said of Rendever’s VR programming. “It helps create a human bridge that makes them realize they share some commonalities and interests. It turns the artificial world into reality.”
Rendever, a privately owned company SomervilleMassachusetts hopes to build on its senior living platform with a recent grant from the National Institutes of Health that will provide nearly $4.5 million to study ways to reduce social isolation between seniors living at home and their caregivers.
Some studies have found that VR programming presented in a limited view format can help older people maintain and improve cognitive functions, refresh memories, and promote social relationships with their families and fellow residents of care facilities. Experts say the technology could be useful as an alternative to, but not a replacement for, other activities.
“There’s always a risk of too much screen time,” said Katherine “Kate” Dupuis, a neuropsychologist and professor who studies aging issues at Sheridan College in Canada. “But if you use it carefully, with meaning and purpose, it can be very helpful. It can be an opportunity for elders to connect with someone and share a sense of wonder.”
Pallabi Bhowmick, a researcher at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign who is investigating the use of VR with older adults, said VR headsets could be an easier way for older people to interact with technology rather than fumbling around with a smartphone or another device that requires buttons or other mechanisms to navigate.
“The stereotype that older people are unwilling to try new technology needs to change because they are willing and able to adopt technologies that are meaningful to them,” Bhowmik said. “In addition to helping them relieve stress, be entertained, and connect with other people, there’s also an intergenerational aspect that can help them build their relationships with younger people who discover they use VR and say, ‘Grandpa is so cool!'”
Rendover CEO Kyle Rand’s interest in helping his own grandmother deal with the emotional and mental challenges of aging led him on a path that led him to found the company in 2016 after studying neuroengineering at Duke University.
“What really fascinates me about humans is how much our brains depend on social interactions and how much we learn from others,” Rand said. “A group of elderly residents who don’t really know each other well can come together, spend 30 minutes in a VR experience together and then sit down to have lunch together while continuing the conversation about the experience.”
It’s such a big market that another VR specialist, Dallas-based Mind Immersive, competes against Rendvor with services tailored for senior living communities.
In addition to helping form social connections, VR programming from both Rendever and Mind has been employed as a potential tool to potentially slow the damaging effects of dementia. Another Silicon Valley retirement village, Forum, sometimes uses this technique in a similar manner.
Forum resident Bob Rogallo, who suffers from dementia that has left him speechless, appeared to be enjoying 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.
Sally Rosallo, who does not have dementia, said the experience brought back memories of the couple’s visits to the same park during the more than 30 years they spent traveling around America in their recreational vehicle.
“It made me wish I was 30 years younger so I could do it again,” she said of the virtual tour of the glacier. “This allows you to get out of the same environment and either go somewhere new or visit places you’ve been to.”
In another session at the forum, 93-year-old Almut Schultz laughed happily after watching a virtual classical music performance at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheater and later wanted to play with a puppy running around in his VR headset.
“That was quite a session we had there,” Schultz said with a big smile after taking off his headset and returning to reality.