Resthaven Marion Community Services, part of South Australia’s Resthaven aged care charity, is piloting virtual reality to support rehabilitation therapies for older adults in community settings. The initiative aims to expand therapeutic options beyond traditional exercises, increase engagement, and potentially reduce barriers to access by delivering tailored, immersive activities for mobility, cognition and wellbeing under staff supervision.
While the current focus is on VR implementation and clinician-led programs, the project highlights clear intersections with AI in healthcare: machine learning could enable adaptive, data-driven therapy personalization, automated outcome tracking and remote monitoring. Stakeholders note the need for rigorous evaluation, workforce training, privacy safeguards and investment to scale VR and AI-enabled rehabilitation across community aged-care services. Early pilots will measure functional outcomes, user satisfaction and cost-effectiveness to build an evidence base.
