HOUSTON – It's view master 2.0.
Google has created a way to experience virtual reality in a fun way with “Google cardboard.”
This technology is now being used by one local hospital with their younger patients.
Earlier this month, when pediatric patients at Children’s Memorial Hermann got Google cardboard, they thought the biggest surprise was coming from the video they could watch from literally every angle.
Dwight Howard made them a video where the kids got to see into the depths of the Toyota Center, but he didn’t stop there, he surprised several kids while they were focused on the images within the box.
While this was a once in a lifetime surprise, it helped the hospital successfully launch Google cardboard as they aim to use it more often.
“I think a lot of kids have misperceptions about what’s happening at the hospital. To allow them to visualize and search the whole area and see that it’s not scary, everyone is friendly, and things like that. Doing virtual tours allows it to go to another level,” said Alyssa Luksa, manager of Child Life and Expressive Therapy, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Any phone can download the Google cardboard app. Patients put phones inside the cardboard box and you can look: in, down and around. It shows 360 degrees of video! There's also 360 degree videos on YouTube.
“We have preparation books. We have dolls that we use for medical play to help kids understand why they’re here,” Luksa said. “This would just be another resource for us to use that maybe would give a kid another opportunity to understand their process or their illness.”
Kids might not always grasp medical procedures, but they do not struggle with technology.
You can purchase Google cardboard online along with tutorials on how to make your own at www.google.com/cardboard.