Stony Brook, New York — For Tom O’Donnell, a Korean War veteran who has called the Long Island State Veterans Home home for the past two years, a recent afternoon meant cruising down Route 66 — from Chicago all the way to Santa Monica — without ever leaving his room.
He did it wearing a virtual reality headset.
“I enjoyed doing it and I look forward to doing more,” O’Donnell said. “I like touring locally, and I’m somewhat surprised by how clear everything is in that machine.”
At the Long Island State Veterans Home (LISVH) at Stony Brook University in Stony Brook, New York, VR therapy has been part of daily life since 2018. The facility partners with Mynd Immersive, a Texas-based technology company, to give residents access to more than 1,000 virtual destinations and experiences — from peaceful nature walks to skydiving to swimming with sharks.
More Than Just Entertainment
Jonathan Spier, the facility’s Deputy Executive Director, is careful to frame the program as clinical, not recreational.
“When people are sad and depressed, we’re not just giving them a pill,” Spier said. “We’re trying to figure out the reasoning behind it and how we can alter their sense of reality — bring them to a place that puts them in a better frame of mind.”
The program is used to address chronic pain, post-traumatic stress disorder, physical rehabilitation and stress reduction. Some sessions involve passive tours through far-off places. Others use handheld controllers, letting residents catch butterflies, shoot archery targets or interact with animals in a virtual petting zoo.
The therapy also doubles as a social activity. Residents can join group sessions, exploring places together and talking through what they see.
“We have residents who do trips together — a walking tour of Europe, or the Museum of Natural History,” Spier said. “They can all communicate and it promotes dialogue.”
Not One Size Fits All
Staff have noticed that veterans from different eras tend to have different preferences.
Vietnam veterans, the program found, gravitate toward the adrenaline experiences — skydiving, swimming with sharks, high-adventure scenes. Veterans from World War II tend to want something quieter: nature settings, history tours, calm and contemplative landscapes.
That flexibility is central to how Mynd Immersive designs its content. Chris Brickler, the company’s CEO, said he was drawn to the healthcare sector in part because of his grandfather’s experience with dementia — and he’s convinced immersive technology fills a real gap in elder care.
“There’s a really powerful component to this technology that lets people out of their four walls and into a completely different environment,” Brickler said. “They’re willing to do things in those environments, and that’s great for the health of veterans who don’t get as much physical activity.”
A Glimpse of What’s Possible
The LISVH program reflects a broader shift in how forward-thinking facilities are approaching resident well-being. With the growing interest in technology-driven approaches to resident care, VR therapy represents one of the more tangible — and immediate — applications already delivering results in the field.
Mynd Immersive regularly sends updated equipment and software to the LISVH, keeping the content fresh. Sessions are scheduled multiple times a week, with staff adjusting the calendar when residents are experiencing heightened stress or emotional difficulty.
For O’Donnell, it’s a simple equation: “Those are things that make me feel good. It makes me feel more relaxed and more willing to put up with things the way they are.”
That, Spier says, is the whole point.
“It’s the residents’ preferences,” he said. “And if we can make their experience pleasurable, that’s a big win for us at the end of the day.”
