Traveling can be expensive and, for some, not as easy as it once was, but a type of extended reality is being used in senior living communities in Naples.
Joan Bruning and her husband called Illinois home for decades. That's where they raised their three boys.
Their love for golf moved them to Naples.
“Well, my husband died in 2019,” Bruning said.
Joan then moved into Vi at Bentley Village Assisted Living.
“Part of my reason for being in Bentley Village is my mind is going,” she said.
Most of what she does now happens between these four walls.
Besides missing her sons, who all live in different states, she misses seeing the world.
Joan and her husband got to experience the Caribbean from a cruise ship and the Hawaii islands.
Although she can not travel that far anymore, virtual reality goggles have made it possible. Once residents put on this virtual reality headset, they enter a different continent seeing a 360 view. This program is called "Rendever."
“The fact that you put this over your head, and then you feel like you're going to the top of the mountains and the feeling that can fall deep into the river,” Bruning said.
It has tools and videos to help communities like this one create a travel plan. Vi Director of Assisted Living Laura Kendrick said she has seen residents break out of social isolation by talking about what they see.
“Well, six degrees of separation,” Kendrick said. “So they're here, and they're talking about their hometown. And then you see they also went to the same university together. So those connections are established here just by reminiscing.”
Some of their favorite virtual visits are places they have been before.
“We went to a farm, and they just enjoyed it,” Lifestyle Assistant Illiana Purpura said. “They saw the animals coming towards them, they're petting them, and they're giggling, and they're laughing, and it's bringing joy to them. So when that session was over, they went into the day room and just kept giggling and talking about what they experienced.”
Joan said putting these goggles on extends her reality.
“Seeing the beauty and getting the feeling of the height of the mountains and then getting the feeling of the depth if you fell,” Joan said.
Sightseeing with her friends from the comfort of their own home.