Virtual Zoo in Children’s Hospitals
More than 30 hospitals across Japan are giving children the opportunity to explore zoos and other destinations through virtual reality. I can’t imagine what it’s like to be a child with issues requiring a long hospital stay. This project gives young hospital patients the opportunity to interact with others, to have something to look forward to during treatment, and to ease the loneliness and isolation.
In mid-July, 15 children aged 4 to 16 met in a playroom in Okayama University Hospital’s pediatric ward. They put on virtual reality headsets for a virtual trip to Osaka’s Tennoji’s Zoo. They found themselves in a recreation of the zoo’s African Savana area, with giraffes and zebras. The virtual space was developed jointly by Osaka-based Kintetsu Real Estate Company and Cluster Inc., a Tokyo metaverse developer.
Ten year old Takeru Kuwahara, who has been hospitalized since March said he was not comfortable around animals, but found the virtual experience reassuring. Yuka Kawaguchi, a childcare worker in the pediatric ward, said children who lost strength and normally lacked the energy to leave their rooms were able to go to the event after looking forward to it all morning. Children who took part included those being treated for cancer, heart conditions, and Crohn’s disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease.
This program is helping sick children all over Japan.
2 comments:
Hm... I am glad to hear the positive response to this initiative and hope the children will have more opportunities to visit places outside the hospital through virtual reality.
On the other hand, if I had been a patient, I am not sure I would have liked it. Although I have never tried one of those headsets, when I have watched the images they produce on a TV screen, I feel dizzy and scared. I think it has to do with balance and the feeling of weightlessness. I need to FEEL the floor and the movement of walking forward. I dislike movies made with handheld cameras - they make me seasick, and I imagine vertical reality headsets would be an equally uncomfortable experience.
This is such a wonderful idea. I've never used a virtual reality headset but it would be interesting to experience. I think I'd like that. And feel very safe.
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