A partnership between Blenheim House Care Home and Wiltshire College to introduce virtual reality to elderly people has been a big success.
Events manager at the home, Chris Guest said, “Using virtual reality opens up huge potential for our activities team to stimulate our residents. We can take residents to their childhood homes, go on a safari to Kenya or swim beneath waves. We can use it for community awareness training on dementia and welcome schools and community groups to use it for inter generational projects – the potential is huge!
“It went really well, with staff experiencing what is possible using virtual reality in their activities for residents of the care home, as well as for training purposes such as dementia awareness.
“We invited a resident to enjoy her first VR experience, which brought ecstatic reactions as Dorothy Povey swam with penguins, drew pictures in the stars and went on adventures across the globe.
“The project was the first in a series of demonstrations as the home look to use virtual reality in their daily activities provision for their residents.”
