Hospice of Savannah Developed the VR for Good Project as a Virtual Reality Program for Patients

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Hospice of Savannah Developed the VR for
Good Project as a Virtual Reality Program for
Patients

• WEBSITE - https//angelicarehospice.com/

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• An increasing number of hospice care providers
  are incorporating virtual reality (VR) technology
  into patient care to help reduce pain, anxiety
  and feelings of isolation. Hospice Savannah
  worked with the Savannah College of Art and
  Design (SCAD) to create a VR program that has had
  positive impacts on patients and students alike.
• In collaboration with SCAD virtual reality
  professor Teri Yarbrow, Hospice of Savannah
  developed the VR for Good project as a virtual
  reality program for patients featuring three
  different interactive experiences a hot air
  balloon ride, an undersea adventure and a farm
  visit that can be used for physical and
  emotional therapy. The hospices president and
  CEO Kathleen Benton spearheaded a community-based
  collaboration to bring VR experiences to patients
  and families after witnessing firsthand the
  impacts that virtual reality can have in
  alleviating suffering.

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• I had just started at best hospice services
  Savannah a little over a year ago when I met Teri
  Yarbrow, before the virtual reality program was
  set up as a class at SCAD and more of a vision
  for volunteer community work, said Kathleen
  Benton, president and CEO. As the only community
  non-profit hospice in town, I wanted more inner
  workings within community-run organizations that
  set us apart more for our patients and families
  because of the rapport already built. I had also
  lost a brother not too long ago who was a student
  there in industrial design. He was very dependent
  on technology as a patient himself who had a
  chronic and terminal illness his whole life. I
  can remember when the first VR came out and it
  helped him with anxiety and mentally just to
  escape the imprisonment of his bed and of his
  body. Proteus Syndrome had a stronghold on him
  every day pain- and mobility-wise. He was
  trapped, and VR gave that escape to him.

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• Shortly following his passing, the Daniel DeLoach
  Memorial Fund was established in 2017 as a
  foundation supporting technology for patients.
  The foundation helps to support the VR for Good
  project, and further efforts to seek technology
  grants are ongoing. Additional funding stems from
  cost-sharing partnerships, according to Benton.
• We found a way to share some costs and partnered
  with our amazing creators, who then did it as a
  class, said Benton. This kind of thing doesnt
  have to cost a bunch of money with thousands in
  investment. You can buy an Oculus virtual
  reality system for a couple hundred dollars. No
  matter what question you ask when it comes to
  cost, the answer is you need to be innovative. If
  its something important to vulnerable patients
  who are going to pass away and need this sooner
  than later, then you just have to be creative.
  The collaborative effort we have allowed for
  that, we all carry different costs and different
  sweat equity. In the end, nothing that weve done
  has been expensive.

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• SCAD began offering a bachelor of fine arts
  degree in immersive reality in fall of 2018, then
  the first dedicated degree in this field in the
  United States. Working with students, Yarbrow
  developed VR for Good with three concepts
  directed towards pain relief and physical
  therapy, with the underwater experience more
  passive and calming for patients while the
  farming experience involves more mobility.
• I see VR as promising for the future as we build
  a library of experiences, said Yarbrow. Some
  are more engaging and some more meditative and
  life-enhancing. Apples and AntHills virtual
  farm visit is one that involves motor exercises,
  but theres all different kinds of ways that you
  could incorporate that at a level patients are
  able to do. Nalu is directed towards pain
  relief as very passive. You can move your hands
  and see bubbles around them, or look at whales,
  dolphins and turtles. The Swimming with the
  Dolphins experience allows the patient to be a
  diver and facilitates swimming. You can hear the
  dolphins around you, youre moving and theres
  soothing music. A palliative care California
  patient having pain came in and he watched this
  experience four times in a row with a gigantic
  smile on his face when he was done. It totally
  shifted whatever was going on in this perception
  of his pain.

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• Address - 12598 Central Ave. Suite 212 Chino, CA
  
• Contact No. - [phone]
• Website - https//angelicarehospice.com/