Add virtual reality to the set of tools used to help seniors fight depression and loneliness in assisted living facilities. Startup Rendever Health is taking Samsung Gear VR headsets to these facilities, helping the aged re-visit old neighborhoods and visit new places like the Eiffel Tower.
“The residents love a large variety of the content that we’ve been showing them,” says Rendever co-founder Reed Hayes in an interview with Senior Housing News. “We take them to outer space and on other world travel experiences, but the most powerful always ends up being their childhood homes.”
Hayes, a graduate student at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, launched the business with classmate Dennis Lally because he wasn’t satisfied with the quality of life his family members experienced in assisted living.
He tells SHN there is proprietary technology involved in the VR implementation and that eventually the company hopes to bring social events like weddings and reunions to home-bound seniors.
Virtual Reality at assisted living facilities: Look at these seniors smile!
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