Overton House purchases an exciting new sensory tool for residents
Staff at Overton House, our specialist dementia care home in Cottingham , are always looking for new and innovative ways to enrich the lives of their residents. Having already seen the benefits to residents from other RemPod creations, including a virtual fish tank for their beach-themed activity room and a virtual train carriage feature, staff were excited at the prospect of acquiring the virtual car.
The Virtual Car, designed and created by RemPod, is a wonderful tool for reminiscence, creating a complete sensory experience with its realistic car seats and its screen showing many virtual journeys set within a window screen. The car also has a wind machine, air vents, scents and sound effects, which together help to recreate a wonderful travel experience for residents.
Over the past few months staff from Overton House worked hard to raise the money needed with a variety of fundraising activities. A tombola, sales of knitted blanket and their annual Santa Fun Run were just some of their initiatives they came up and friends and family members were quick to support their efforts ensuring that the equipment could be bought sooner than expected. Donations included one from RemPods themselves.
The last part of the finding came from The HICA Group’s SHINE Fund which exists to help improve the quality of life f0or all of those who receive services from HICA. Shine is their aspirational philosophy that underpins their organisational commitment to continuous improvement and a personal pledge to ‘make a difference’. The SHINE Fund, which in itself exists purely through find-raising, donated the final £1000 to the project.
RemPod was first established in 2009 by Richard Ernest after a friendship with his elderly neighbour inspired him. Richard then appeared on the BBC show Dragons Den where he gained the backing of Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones who invested in the expansion of his business.
Overton House Manager, Margaret Walker said, “We would like to thank both The SHINE Fund and RemPods for their generous donations making it possible for us to receive the virtual car equipment a lot quick than we dared hope. We know from chatting with our residents that going out for a drive was a favourite leisure pursuit in their younger years and we hope that this new equipment will help stimulate those positive memories.”
