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St. Barnabas introduces virtual reality

St. Barnabas, in conjunction with a Mynd Virtual Reality, is bringing virtual reality to aid seniors housed in its facilities.
Helps mitigate dementia effects

VALENCIA — Virtual reality has long promised to make digital experiences more immersive, gaming more intense and long-distance interactions more intimate.

But now, St. Barnabas, in conjunction with a Mynd Virtual Reality, is bringing the technology to the aid of seniors housed in its facilities.

Friday marked the first day staff at St. Barnabas began integrating virtual reality into its care programs — starting with help for those dealing with memory challenges and ultimately to the population as a whole.

“(Virtual reality) has great potential to work with different age-related conditions,” said Chris Brickler, CEO and co-founder of Mynd Virtual Reality, a company specializing in state of the art virtual reality.

“We started with a musical foundation, but we quickly moved to include travel and immersive experiences that allow people to be teleported to different experiences and times.”

The device used is a pair of large black goggles that hold a smart phone to serve as the screen. As the person wearing them moves his or her head, the field of view on the video changes to look as though they're looking around.

Headphones provide audio and more intensive setups can even integrate smells or touch stimulus.

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“In other facilities that Mynd VR has worked in, they've shown decreased agitation, improved cognitive function,” said Jeff Bost, a physician assistant that consults with St. Barnabas on their brain health and memory programs. “Its part of a program, if you will, to improve brain health. It's being adapted right now for seniors who have memory challenges. However, we see a broader application with the senior population.”Joe Maroon, a neurosurgeon and nutrition and fitness consultant, said the stimulus from virtual reality helps the person to engage the brain and ward off the adverse effects of a sedentary mental lifestyle.“For the senior citizens, those approaching the fourth quarter or in the fourth quarter, dementia is a very major concern to everyone who approaches that age. When it comes to dementia, what can we do to mitigate that, what can we do to slow it down or prevent it?” he asked. “And the brain like muscles in the body is an organ … and you gotta use it or lose it. There's no question about it.”The virtual reality device, Maroon said, engages the sight and sound of the user with exciting and often novel experiences all while being maximally engaging and immersive.“This provides a technology that is incredibly innovative that is also very stimulatory to all aspect of the brain, in terms of vision, auditory, even taste if you wanted to,” he said.In addition to helping with memory challenges and warding off dementia, he said virtual reality can be used to improve the mood of users and to reduce feelings of isolation or loneliness, particularly in seniors.“As you get older you tend to get isolated. Your friends, your environment, nature, tends to become smaller and smaller,” Bost said. “And the idea of virtual reality takes you outside yourself in an immersive type way.”Mynd VR also hopes to make virtual reality a connecting experience, said Brickler, letting folks interact with one another at a distance through the videos.“It's very much a caregiver approach to what we're doing,” he said.As the company grows and more data becomes available about what users like, Brickler said they will continue tailoring the videos and experiences to the seniors' wants and needs, learning more about them in the process.“I would've never guessed that I would've seen an 85-year-old woman wanting to jump out of airplanes when we started this project,” Brickler said.

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