Pleasure Island Parrot head donates virtual reality headset to Novant Health New Hanover - WECT

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - Virtual world headsets tin beryllium a amusive game, but for patients astatine Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, this headset tin beryllium utilized to assistance kids hole for thing similar an MRI oregon distract them portion they’re getting an IV started.

“They’re playing with VR, that’s a crippled version. This is simply a aesculapian infirmary version, truthful it has specialty things connected it, specialty experiences that the families and the children tin absorption connected and an acquisition to assistance them done their procedures and the experiences of hospital,” Michele Erich, euphony therapist and kid beingness specialist, said. “You person a mates of choices successful it, but the 1 with the bakery is you’re going to stack your your donuts, and you’re going to perceive the MRI sounds. And successful an MRI, you person to prevarication still. So to beryllium palmy astatine the bakery, you besides person to support still, and you’re going to visually ticker the donuts stack. And if you determination the donuts are going to fall. So, that helps the kid to larn that accomplishment of lying still, portion they perceive the noises of MRI which are simulated successful the VR goggles.”

Erich has been a euphony therapist and kid beingness specializer astatine the infirmary for much than 20 years and she says this exertion is making her occupation a small easier.

“Another acquisition mightiness beryllium feeling thing bedewed connected your hands, oregon your arm. And arsenic idiosyncratic wipes without an intoxicant pad to cleanable a spot wherever they’re going to commencement an IV, you mightiness consciousness oregon spot small food swirling astir and they’re gonna travel implicit by your limb successful the VR, what what’s happening is the nurses starting the IV, and they’re gonna consciousness the touch, and it’s gonna simulate similar a small food swimming by you due to the fact that that’s what they’re seeing,” Erich said.

Erich said getting this VR acceptable wouldn’t person been imaginable without a large donation. The Pleasure Island Parrot Head Club raised $8,000 earlier this twelvemonth to donate the virtual world headset to the hospital.

“When they told america that they had 1 for 2 weeks, and that was that was their proceedings period, and the accent level that dropped successful the nurses and the children, we could not get them we we had to bash it. That was the champion happening we could bash to springiness backmost to them,” Jeanne Rietzke, President of the Please Island Parrot Head Club, said.

Since the donation, Erich said kids are getting the attraction and procedures needed without the fearfulness it came with before.

“It helps them to tolerate that process and to acquisition it without fearfulness and to get the aesculapian assistance needed, indispensable medicine and treatments that they request for health.”

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