How VR is Helping Front Porch Residents Reduce Isolation and Improve Quality of Life

Here at Rendever, we are excited to showcase one of our amazing long-standing partners – Front Porch. This group is embracing the frontier of innovation and improving resident lifestyle and staff experience.

Through the adoption of age-tech, which leverages products designed to address the needs and wants of older adults, Front Porch is using modern resources to change the face of aging in their communities. Some of the technology they have adopted includes products focused on maintaining and improving brain health, providing opportunities for increased socialization and connection, and creating a dignified space to “Live life your way”. That’s the Front Porch promise.

As Front Porch operates at the cutting edge of age-tech solutions, it makes perfect sense that they are also a pivotal partner in providing the foundational work tied to Rendever’s THRIVE Study. As part of this study, Rendever received a $2M National Institute of Health Grant to research the positive impact virtual reality can provide on the aging population, with a specific focus on understanding how VR reduces the harmful effects of social isolation and improves the quality of life in seniors. 

Vista Del Monte, a Front Porch Community, is one of the communities where the NIH-funded THRIVE study is being conducted through Rendever's grant from the National Institute on Aging. Residents who have opted into the study watch virtual reality experiences with their adult child and are assessed on their feelings of emotional closeness with their loved ones following the VR sessions. The study is measuring the outcome of emotional closeness and feelings of isolation from VR to explore the added benefits versus other means of communicating like video chat.

Kristle Bullman, the Field Project Coordinator at Front Porch recently got to see Rendever’s THRIVE Study in action.

For Kristle, it was so impactful to see the session carry out in person and hear first-hand from a resident about the positive impact of the experience. In the image, it appears that the resident is in the VR experience by herself, but all the way across the country her daughter is also using a Rendever headset and in the same VR experience! The resident and her daughter were given the ability to travel to a favorite vacation spot while also talking to each other through the microphone and speaker in the VR headset. Imagine a phone call with a friend that transforms immediately into a trip to Stonehenge, England, together!

The daughter talked in detail about how her husband had taken a stone-cutting course as it looked like the stones they were seeing. This is a great example of how high quality resident engagement can inspire meaningful conversations by means of immersive experiences- an outcome less achievable through means of video chat. At their next stop, Machu Picchu, the resident recounted a story about her husband visiting and getting to see llamas up close while on his travels to Machu Picchu. Kristle says, “that kind of engagement was the gem of my observation.”

Kristle mentioned one of the participants passed away prior to the completion of the study, but the week before they passed the resident had the chance to go to their childhood home with their adult child on the Rendever headset. The adult child emotionally reported back that getting to visit their parent’s childhood home before they passed was an incredibly meaningful experience for them.

Front Porch is embracing age-tech innovations and providing foundational work for meaningful research. Here at Rendever, we are fortunate for this partnership and cannot wait to see the further adoption of innovative technology. 

Explore more success stories here.