Helping Seniors Stay Reconnected Through Virtual Reality

Social isolation can be a major health risk for people as they age. According to the CDC, loneliness in seniors can increase the risk of depression, dementia and even death.

Hundreds of retirement communities and senior living facilities across the country are now using virtual reality as a form of recreation and therapy.

At RiverSpring Senior Living Center in New York City, they use VR equipment from a company called Rendever that is designed especially for seniors. Residents don headsets during group sessions that are guided by therapists, taking them on virtual excursions to locations like Bermuda or Italy.

RiverSpring began deploying the technology last year. The VR sessions are often just for fun and social connection, but the tool is also being used to help seniors who are undergoing occupational therapy after a surgery or major life change. Actual 360-degree images of a resident's home can be used to help them practice getting around before they return home and to help the staff identify areas in the home that may need safety improvements. The RiverSpring staff says residents have been receptive to the technology. "Surprisingly, elderly people adapt better than young people. They love change when it comes to fun things, interesting things, and they really have embraced this," said David Pomeranz, RiverSpring's Chief Operating Officer.

Residents as old as 95 have joined in on VR gaming sessions at RiverSpring, where they can compete with their friends and neighbors to pop virtual balloons. Therapists encourage the residents to incorporate physical motions in the virtual world. Rendever and other VR companies are also incorporating exercise equipment like stationary bikes into the experience to turn virtual sessions into real workouts.

Or sometimes sessions will take residents back to the block where they grew up to take in decades of changes. It can be a powerful and emotional experience.

"We have the idea of what once was and what is now," said Dominique Fickling, the center's director of therapeutic arts and enrichment programming. "It fosters more opportunities to get in that mental health space where you're kind of able to just talk about it."

Recently, a VR session brought resident Marjorie Bryant back to the Harlem Street where she remembers playing as a girl. She hadn't visited the neighborhood in-person in years. "We played all the time. Jump rope and roller skating, hopscotch and things like that," she remembered. Bryant was right there on her street with friends again as part of VR’s new generation of older fans.