ALISON Harrington says it’s “wonderful” to hear aged-care residents happily sing like nobody’s watching. 

The CEO of social enterprise and technical innovators Move & Groove, Alison says her company’s silent disco therapy is being adopted in several aged-care facilities across the ACT and NSW – and the benefits during lockdown have been huge.

“There is so much the technology can do, such as playing bingo, with residents in their rooms and the caller in the hall,” she says.

“Now is a time when we really need to be able to bring moments of connection, as well as calm and happiness to our elderly citizens.”

“We’ve found that it helps to keep spirits up for those experiencing loneliness or dementia and can help access long-lost memories.”

Lockdown for isolated, aged-care residents means restricted visits from outside and unsurprisingly, mental health concerns are high, says Alison.

“There are extremely limited visits from families, live entertainment, physios and therapists,” she says.

“The technology can be used safely during this time of infection control, is quick and easy to set up and uses remote wireless technology.

“It’s completely turnkey. We want to get it to people so we can make an impact.”

Alison says the technology allows isolated residents to listen alone or in groups to personally curated music, podcasts, videos, yoga and meditation courses, as well as other languages and church services.

“While we have found that personalised audio is wonderful for taking people back in time and unlocking memories, such as a podcast about the Apollo 13 event, or playing ballroom music to people who used to love dancing, there’s as much joy in dancing to Taylor Swift,” she says.

“Our therapy is helpful because we can deliver it in a kit, contact-free and fully train aged-care workers how to use it remotely.”

Alison says Moove & Groove has a focus on training aged-care staff in a bid to make their jobs easier.

“Aged-care staff are now so stressed, having to be the entertainment on top of other tasks, and the last thing they need is the burden of another thing to learn so we made sure our six-week training was supportive and comprehensive,” she says.

Each kit has 10 sets of headphones, a tablet and a transmitter, with the ability to configure it to suit each facility. Residents listen on wireless headphones with aged-care workers able to change the programming from one tablet.

Alison started working with the immersive technology for a hens’ party business but quickly saw the benefits it could bring in aged-care facilities.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine how useful it would be during the restrictions of COVID-19,” she says. 

Alison says the Moove & Groove kit also features a new “Virtual Visitor” program that allows families to easily book in for a “visit” with loved ones via a link.

“All families have to do is book in for an online video call, which makes it easy for the aged care workers to facilitate,” she says.

In the ACT, Alison says the technology is available at Uniting Mirinjani in Weston, Uniting Amala in Gordon and will soon be implemented at Uniting Eabrai Weston, a new specialist dementia-specific site. 

The program is part of a one-year research program with Australian Catholic University.