Practising Qigong with technology

“I get to do Qigong and watch other friends doing it with me,” shared Burrows Gilbert, a resident of Woodlands Care Home (WLCH).

Mr Gilbert, along with other residents of WLCH, enjoys his Qigong exercises twice a month. These sessions are held via a broadcast system so that residents at each level of the three-storied Home can participate. Community volunteers at WLCH will conduct the activity on one floor, and use a laptop to feed the footage onto the TV screens at the other levels. Since November 2017, Qigong exercises have been broadcasted to residents of WLCH and Pearl’s Hill Care Home, both managed by Vanguard Healthcare.

The use of TV screens can be easily implemented and enables all residents to participate. It also helps to save time and manpower resources that would be needed to move residents from one level to another.

This initiative keeps the homes’ residents active and engaged. They enjoy being able to watch the activities across the various levels, or see what their friends in the other Home are doing. It has become a conversation topic for them.

Besides broadcasting the Qigong sessions, Vanguard Healthcare has also broadcasted Chinese New Year 2018 celebrations between WLCH and Pearl’s Hill Care Home. Residents at both Care Homes shared greetings and watched the actual activities held in each location. They found it refreshing and fun to celebrate the event with their friends across the Homes and to see each other “live”.