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Wiiiiii!
For the frail and elderly or the young and ailing, video games can be just what the doctor ordered.
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Peggy Orlando, 93, bowls an hour a day at least five days a week. Dressed in an embroidered blue sweater, she sits in her wheelchair in the game room of the Virtua Health and Rehabilitation Center in Berlin and holds the wireless, motion-sensitive control wand of a Wii game system. Swinging her arm forward, she lets a virtual ball fly. On the flat-screen monitor in front of her, the ball barrels down the alley and, with a realistic clatter, knocks down nine pins.
Intent on picking up the spare, Orlando takes careful aim and swings her arm forward again. The ball narrowly misses the lone pin. “Would you look at that?” she groans.
Orlando may not be your typical video game junkie, but she’s as into it as any teenager. A former financial secretary, Orlando lived in Philadelphia for 59 years before moving into Virtua Health’s long-term care unit in Camden County two years ago. “I was on a bowling team for 30 years,” she says. “And I loved it.”
Last May, when Virtua installed Nintendo’s innovative new system in its game room, Orlando gave it a try. Now she prefers the video game to the real thing. The center periodically takes residents to an actual bowling alley, but Orlando scoffs at the setup, which caters to the older bowler with bumpers that prevent balls from going into the gutter and ramps that help accelerate them. Orlando rolls her eyes as she describes it. “This is much more fun,” she says.
Joe Levecchia, a recreational therapy assistant at Virtua Health, often Wii-bowls with Orlando. He helped bring Wii to the facility after staffers saw a news segment about nursing homes using video games to keep residents active. “They come out here, have a good time, and don’t even realize they’re getting some exercise,” Levecchia says.
The potential benefits go beyond firmer arms and quicker wrists. Gregory Busch, medical director at the Berlin facility, says video games can boost logical thinking, concentration, memory, hand-eye coordination, and range of movement. “It’s something the residents look forward to,” he says. “It’s mentally, cognitively, and physically stimulating for them. It also alleviates depression, which is common in the elderly.”
Kathy Schnurr, director of activities at the 128-bed center, says the games also help residents connect with each other. “It’s the atmosphere it creates—it’s fun,” she says. “It helps them focus on what they can do rather than on their limitations. In Peggy’s case, it goes directly back to what she was able to do before the nursing home, and it’s been wonderful for her.”
Of course, video games aren’t just for geriatrics. Seven miles north at Virtua West Jersey Hospital in Voorhees, video games get a workout in the pediatric and pediatric intensive care units. The Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation donated $1,700 to install sixteen bedside Microsoft Xbox consoles there. It also sponsored a mobile entertainment system, called a Fun Center, which includes Nintendo GameCubes, flat-screen monitors, and DVD players. Doctors say the games help ease a child’s anxiety.
Back in Berlin, the center recently held its first virtual bowling tournament. Twelve teams entered, with residents and staff pairing up. The winning team? Orlando and Levecchia. Orlando doesn’t want to boast, but what the heck. “I’m a pretty good bowler for an old lady,” she says. “And this is right up my alley.”
