Civitas Senior Living, a Texas-based senior living management and consulting company has announced a partnership with MyndVR of Dallas to introduce virtual reality (VR) into the senior residents of Midtowne Assisted Living and Memory Care in Midlothian, Texas.
The program aims to explore the benefits of VR on actively engaging seniors with curated VR content to help create happy,calming, and memorable experiences for the users. Content most popular among the senior audience includes immersive experience from outlets such as DiscoverVR, National Geographic, and The Wall Street Journal, Civitas Senior Living and MyndVR report.
“Technology will lead senior living into a happier, healthier, more enabled future,” Wayne Powell, Founder and CEO of Civitas, said. “We can deliver experiences to our residents using virtual reality that may be difficult or impossible under any other circumstances. Such virtual freedom will make a difference in our resident experience.”
Residents are able to enjoy the VR content thanks to smartphone powered headsets and headphones which allow them to step into a number of different scenarios. Content that is shown to the residents are 360-degree videos which last around two minutes in length and and range from whitewater-rafting up the Grand Canyon to a Frank Sinatra concert. MyndVR have also develops content that is specifically targeted at the senior audience, allowing for the library of available experiences to grow.
Chris Brickler, co-founder and CEO of MyndVR, said, “We recently completed a large-scale national pilot with several hundred people in senior living communities, including those living independently and those with Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s and other age-related conditions. We observed mood improvement, reductions in feelings of isolation, triggering of memories, an increased sense of connection, and lifted spirits among participants. We understand what content works specifically for seniors, and that the aging mind wants to continue to learn, create and explore. The technology holds tremendous therapeutic promise, and our goal is to give seniors across the country access to an affordable VR solution.”
residents of Midtowne Assisted Living and Memory Care are introduced to MyndVR, they will be able to continue experience new adventures daily from the comfort of their chairs all while maintaining the benefits that come from VR. It is possible that with continued work, the project and it’s available content could be rolled out to more locations in the future. VRFocus will be sure to bring you all the latest.