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‘In Rome’

Westview Health Care Center resident Norma Ficcardi grins from ear to ear with sights of Rome. Courtesy photo

 

 

DAYVILLE —  Residents at Westview Health Care Center were treated to an amazing new virtual reality program that is sure to change their view of the world, literally! Thanks to Reed Hayes, MIT Sloan School of Management graduate student and cofounder of Rendever Health, residents were able to transcend time and place with virtual travels to all over the world. Destinations included: the Grand Canyon, Paris, Rome, Greece, India and even their local childhood neighborhoods. The technology from Oculus and Rendever uses Gear VR headsets from Samsung. The interface software program allows for access to digital images and videos to be viewed from all over the world. As part of a therapeutic recreational activity at the facility, the virtual reality technology is perfect for residents of all abilities to experience the wonders of travel. “We learned of this new technology from a resident’s family member who presented an article to us from the Boston Globe that featured this brand new company,” said Administrator David T. Panteleakos. “We were all amazed by the reactions of our residents as they viewed the images and experienced the vivid imagery. The program has so many beneficial elements for our residents and words alone cannot describe the potential impact to their quality of life. We are also very excited about bringing this brand new cutting edge technology to all of our residents as part of our routine recreational programming.”