Virtual experiences

VR project seeks “travel guides” for senior citizens

The interaction with the volunteers alone makes the project something special for the senior citizens.(Bild: Julian Hobmaier)

VR goggles on and off to places of remembrance: a social project that takes senior citizens on trips to places from their youth needs volunteers aged 16 and over. The aim is to prevent elderly people from becoming lonely and to enable them to socialize outside the care home.

Older people with disabilities are the focus of the new project from the "füruns - Zentrum für Zivilgesellschaft" association. In collaboration with "Fokus Mensch" and "VitaBlick", volunteers use VR glasses to take senior citizens to places they remember from their youth or to other places that are no longer so easy to reach in real life.

Virtual experiences
There are already more than 100 videos that take you to the Traunstein or even deep to the bottom of the sea. "Virtual journeys trigger positive and negative emotions. They make people want to talk about them afterwards because they have experienced something together," explains Andrea Mayrwöger, Deputy Managing Director of "füruns".

Travel guide wanted
This helps to combat the loneliness of the participants and enables them to make new contacts outside of the care staff. Anyone who would like to be one of these contacts should apply now: "We are currently looking for volunteers aged 16 and over throughout Upper Austria. After an initial interview, training and a matching process with the senior citizens, we're ready to go," says "füruns" Managing Director Petra Pongratz, who is looking forward to welcoming lots of new "travel guides". 

And anyone who would like to contribute to the project in another way can do so with a donation, as "füruns" needs this to cover the investment costs of the VR glasses. Info & contact at: fuer-uns.at.