Click here to watch the full interview
SilVR Adventures was recently featured on Brisbane’s local radio station, 4BC Radio. One of their segments, Afternoons with Sofie Formica covers breaking news, entertainment and events in Brisbane. On several occasions, they’ve been discussing the issues in the aged care industry. Recent discussions have included wages in the industry as well as adequate staffing. These problems implicate the residents and their concerned families. Most of these residents end up experiencing social isolation which has been proven to be very harmful to the wellbeing of older adults and is associated with an increase in mortality. On the other side of things, there’s SilVR Adventures, ready to make the aged care experience enjoyable by using virtual reality to allow older adults to travel the world. Sofie Formica from 4BC Radio invited Colin Pudsey, Founder of SilVR Adventures to talk about virtual reality technology in the aged care industry. We summarised the interview below but if you’d like to watch the full interview, you can click the link above.
The use of virtual reality has often been associated with younger adults and gaming which is quite the myth. Now we see it’s application in the aged care industry catering to older adults wanting to experience an adventure that they’d otherwise not be able to. The inspiration for this idea came about in 2019 when Colin read an article stating that the global population is ageing and the size of the market is rapidly increasing. He started exploring problems in the industry and found that issues regarding isolation and loneliness in older adults leads to more serious issues like anxiety, depression and early onset dementia.
SilVR Adventures was born
Colin found a gap in the market for emerging technology with VR technology. The concept started off with wanting to bring global travel to aged care recipients to reduce the feeling of isolation and loneliness. Colin also wanted to focus on the power of shared experiences among the community to drive engagement among fellow residents that virtually travel together.
Since 2019, they provided turnkey solutions for everything that the aged care facility and community would need to be able to do this internally. In terms of the VR content, there are a variety of experiences of global travel and VR environments with customisable avatars. These avatars allow participants to communicate with one another and interact with their environment. With the avatars, it gives people with disabilities extra confidence and a new experience with virtual mobility.
The focus of SilVR Adventures is improving the lives of older adults and those living with disabilities as people are experiencing the VR world while seated down for comfort. As the VR environment is synced across all the users in the room, everyone gets their own individual experience while also getting a chance to engage with one another. Through the library of tours from all around the world, residents go on a virtual holiday or revisit a location from a cherished memory or a personal experience. This evolved to experiences through the decades as there are also historical events from the 40s or 50s.
It’s about providing the carers with the tools necessary to match the experience with the residents’ individual identities, culture and life experiences in order to cater to their personal needs with this VR technology.
At SilVR Adventures reducing loneliness in aged care is at the core of what we do. And we’re proud to have taken thousands of older adults on shared virtual experiences around the world. It’s these shared experiences that 85% of our customers have said help to significantly drive social engagements. Whether it’s a trip to see the Aurora Borealis or the Great Wall of China, our experiences allow one to relive past memories and exercise their thinking.
Shared experiences can help community dwelling older adults be in a more socially inclusive atmosphere and with experiences in the comfort of their community. Contact us today to arrange a demo and learn more about how virtual reality can help combat loneliness for your older adults in your care.
