A non-profit organization is sending Oculus Rift head-mounted displays to pediatric patients for therapeutic virtual reality sessions.
Pediatric patients are leaving their hospital rooms without ever leaving their hospital rooms.
Summerlin Hospital in Las Vegas, NV, is piloting a virtual reality program that allows its children, teen and young adult patients put on a headset and mentally escape their hospital beds and explore beyond the hospital walls.
The virtual reality program is provided at no cost by VR Kids, a non-profit organization that sends volunteers equipped with Oculus Rift head-mounted displays and virtual storybooks to the hospital's pediatric patients each week.
The program is a hit.
Abrielle, an 8-year-old patient who had been in the hospital for more than a week because of a ruptured appendix, took a virtual reality flight over a lake.
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"I felt like I was somewhere else," she told a local news station. "It felt like I was actually flying. It was like being in Aladdin!"
For patients with limited mobility due to injuries, illness, or just the many IVs and wires requiring them to remain still, the opportunity to virtually leave the hospital is a welcome reprieve.
The VR sessions last three to 15 minutes in duration and are customizable. They are intended to be therapeutic as well as entertaining. The benefits, according to VR Kids, include relief from stress and anxiety, relaxation, and positive mental / physical connections.
"I've seen smiles from kids who maybe haven't smiled in a couple days since they've been here," said Jacquir MaCloud, Summerlin Hospital child life specialist.
"We build worlds for kids to feel like they're exploring and meeting new people and we try to have a travel experience, that's more than watching a movie or reading a book," said R.J. Sampson, VR Kids' executive director.
The organization, which is dedicated to bringing therapeutic virtual reality to mobility impaired and hospital-bound children, hopes to expand the VR Kids program to all hospitals in the Las Vegas Valley.