Skip to content
  1. Home
  2. In the Community

Richmond seniors getting a virtual reality check

New world opening up for the residents at The Maple in Steveston
Alan Campbell
Maple
Andrew Tong, the 18-year-old board member at The Maple Residences, took a small group of seniors, mostly men in their 80s, to a local virtual reality lounge for a fun day out. His fellow board members were so impressed with the results, they agreed to purchase a virtual reality headset for all The Maple residents to enjoy. Video screenshot

A whole new world is about to open up for the seniors at The Maple Residences in Steveston — and they don’t need to set one foot outside of their Steveston homestead to experience it.

Thanks to the ingenuity of The Maples most recent — and by far the youngest — acquisition to the non-profit board of directors, the residents will soon enter the futuristic sphere of virtual reality (VR).

Keen to bring his youth and tech expertise to the boardroom table, 18-year-old Andrew Tong came up with a plan to expose the more adventurous seniors to the wonders of VR.

So, with the permission of his fellow directors, Tong set up a little day out in the spring for seven residents — all of whom happened to be men, with most in their 80s — at a Richmond VR facility to test their appetite for the activity.

“One of the seniors was asking about having a golfing green, but the cost was outrageous,” explained Tong.

“But then I had the idea of a virtual reality golf thing and that sounded good to the board. So they said to me to try and find somewhere local where they could trial it and, if it goes well, they would look at purchasing a virtual reality headset.

“I reached out to a local company — UNIVRS VR Lounge — and said to them I was going to be bringing a bunch of seniors in Richmond. They were great with it.

“They had a great time. We had them on a (virtual) rollercoaster and in an underwater setting, swimming with the fish and another was exploring the Earth. It was a lot of fun seeing their reaction.

“There was a lot of laughter and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves.

Tong said it was easier than he thought to get the residents to sign up for the VR outing, which was actually oversubscribed.

“It was a hit; they felt like it was real, it was their first experience of this for sure. Some of them were really, really into it,” he said.

Tong made a video of the day out and presented it to The Maple’s board, who were “very accepting of it.”

“I’m not sure if it was just because this was the first time I’d really stepped out (as a board member), but they seemed open to it.

“They were very happy with it, so they ended up purchasing a (VR) headset at the end of the summer. It cost about $2,500, I think.

“We haven’t launched it yet, but we are hoping to get it going next month in a specific room.”