St Anne’s Nursing Home residents were treated to tranquil sights of a calming, pristine blue ocean with pods of dolphins swimming by alongside them – all from the comfort of the aged care centre.
Virtual reality (VR) headsets, donated to Southern Cross Care thanks to funds raised by Rotary Club of Broken Hill and Knights of the Southern Cross NSW state branch, Branch 14 Broken Hill, and Branch 31 Mildura.
Rotary Club of Broken Hill President, Gary Oldman, told the Barrier Truth every member of Rotary thought it was a wonderful idea to contribute towards.
“I think if it’s anything that can help with their quality of life, especially with some of the issues that they have in the dementia area, if this can calm or give a little bit more quality, it was lovely to see,” he said.
“There was a couple of the ladies that were using them. I used one myself – first time I’ve ever had VR goggles on – and I can understand why it absolutely relaxes them. I was looking at an ocean scene with a boat going past with the dolphins swimming around, and then I suddenly realised, ‘Hang on, I’m standing up and I can’t see where my legs are. I’ve completely lost perspective of everything and I wasn’t going to move!’,” Mr Oldman said.
“It’s one of the ethos of Rotary, that we love to help the community. And especially when you see the feedback of what your donation is actually doing, it’s a nice feeling. I’ll be able to take that back to our Rotary meeting to say, ‘Look, I’ve been out there, I’ve seen them in action and here’s how your good work of ours has come to light’.”
