Quebec seniors' home residents gear up for travel with virtual reality headsets

Residents of seniors' homes in the Chaudière-Appalaches region are sightseeing with the help of virtual reality headsets.

The devices, which have been available for a few months in certain seniors' residences (CHSLDs) such as Saint-Apollinaire as part of a pilot project, are allowing seniors to travel virtually to the Côte-Nord and the Gaspé Peninsula.

"The landscape is very beautiful. It's flowers and all that," said a resident, wearing a headset.

"I liked it, but I was scared," a woman who had just tried the technology said laughing.

The elderly aren't the only ones marvelling at the images, which are sometimes a little confusing to them.

Louis-Frédéric Lessard, a living environment advisor for the CISSS Chaudière-Appalaches, says he is amazed by the results.

"People who are fairly immobile will try to raise their feet so as not to touch the water or will try to move forward to touch a flower, to touch a blade of grass," he said. "It's actually bringing something very beautiful to our residents."

Quebec expertise

The headset, which costs around $1,000, is linked to an application developed by Quebec-based Super Sublime that captures high-resolution, 360-degree images of locations, allowing the wearer to immerse themself in nature.

Ultimately, the project will make it possible to have two headsets in all of the 29 seniors' residences in Chaudière-Appalaches.

The company plans to introduce international destinations, but for now, seniors are discovering Quebec landscapes.

"We tell ourselves, well, a virtual reality headset is a toy, but in the end, it's a toy that allows young people to escape into incredible imaginary environments," said Super Sublime executive director, Jean-François Malouin. "Imagine what it can do to people who are trapped between four walls all day long."