A virtual bucket list
Samsung partners with aged care homes to deliver on dreams
“OH, THAT’S beautiful.” “Look at all the trees.”
The reactions of elderly people as they are taken on a virtual journey to tick off some of their unfulfilled dreams are priceless.
It took me back to the first time I put a virtual reality headset on my father-in-law.
He couldn’t believe what he was seeing – the fact that as he turned his head in every direction, up, down and sideways, he was greeted with new scenes.
Fast forward a few years, and the same man is among many now confined to the surrounds of a nursing home, apart from the times when we take him out for coffee or lunch. Imagine if we could offer people like that more experiences of life – without having to travel.
Samsung Electronics Australia is doing just that as part of a pilot program visiting Uniting aged care homes to encourage residents to tick off their bucket lists through immersive VR experiences.
The partnership aims to evaluate how VR technology can help offer positive wellbeing, reduce isolation and support social integration for both aged care and dementia patients.
Residents at each home will be able to select an experience from their personal ‘bucket list’ that they have yet to achieve.
Samsung will then source virtual reality content that responds to their request.
For James Hadley, it was visiting Vancouver, his hometown, where he hasn’t been since arriving in Australia.
Stephen Cusack wanted to go on a spacecraft, orbiting Earth, as well as going to the Grand Canyon.
Don Jackson wanted a walk among the Canadian redwood forests.
Nick Brennan, Associate Professor of the Uniting War Memorial Hospital, said: “Using virtual reality technology in this way can give dementia residents and older Australians new adventures which they could not otherwise achieve due to mobility or health problems.
“Providing new adventures for these patients can help to reduce stress and boredom and creates new ways for them to interact with their peers.”
Carers will also use VR to experience a day in the life of a resident with dementia.