Two therapy robots better than one

Lifestyle Coordinator Jenny Thompson said receiving a second Paro has changed the residents' lives drastically.

SEAL OF APPROVAL: Denise McGilvery, Vicki Boyd, Jenny Thompson and Clare McGilvery agree that having two robotic seals at Gunther Village aged care home has been life changing for staff and residents, and it's all thanks to the local community. Picture: Felicity Ripper

FOR one resident at Gunther Village aged care home, a robotic seal called Paro is the only thing that has been effective in stimulating his mind.

Lifestyle co-ordinator Jenny Thompson said receiving a second Paro has changed the residents' lives even more.

"With one particular man I'm finding the only real thing that is stimulating him is Paro, we take Paro in there and sit him on his chest and he will sit up and actually start talking to him saying 'How are you mate, how's it going mate?'," she said.

"I've left the room and then sneaked back around the corner and the resident will be lifting Paro up, snuggling him onto his shoulder, stroking his back.

"Another time when I was returning to the room he had tucked Paro under the blankets with his heading poking out the top."

The first $8000 robotic seal arrived at the beginning of the year and was so effective in decreasing symptoms of dementia in residents that the community rallied together to get another.

The second seal has been named Goldie due to the colour of its fur.

More residents now have an opportunity to benefit from the therapy robots, which remember each person who holds them and behave according to their preferences.

It's not just the residents' lives that have been changed by the pair.

"It's definitely made the lives of staff easier at Gunther Village," Mrs Thompson said.

"My priority when I get to work every morning is to charge the seals and get them out on the floor.

"It would be a waste having them just sit in a room because they are worth too much money and they bring too much joy to the residents' lives."

Facility manager Vicki Boyd said the aged care home had government accreditations conducted recently and was told Gunther had one of the best uses of Paro seen during accreditation.

"Because they're not sitting on a shelf, they're out there interacting," she said,

"Oh gosh, things have changed since this time last year.

"Behaviours are minimum now since the seals have been introduced, which makes our jobs easier and it's rewarding to see."

Guinness World Records certified Paro as the World's Most Therapeautic Robot and his earlier designs have been used throughout Japan and Europe since 2003.

The seal has five different sensors; tactile, light, audition, temperature and posture sensors.

Funds for a second robot were raised through an ABBA tribute concert held by the Golden Orange as well as a raffle, and the rest of the funds were allocated by the women who volunteer at the Gunther Village Opportunity Shop.

"We all thought the success Gunther had with the first seal was amazing so we knew they needed another," the Golden Orange's Denise McGilvery said.

"We wanted to support something a bit different in the community that would benefit the elderly."

Golden Orange owner Lorraine Mogg said everyone in the community knew the staff at Gunther Village and what a great job they did.

"You hear so many negative stories in the media about aged care homes, but these people are just great, and we're happy that we can support them," she said.

But not everything is smooth sailing with the seals, and residents at Gunther Village have indicated they might even need a third eventually.

"A lot of them have a preference to one or the other. In the memory support unit there is one particularly lady who will say to me 'oh where's his friend?' and she'll call out whenever she can hear him making noise, to tell him where she is," Mrs Thompson said.

"There's a bit of competition brewing between her and another lady, and Vicky has suggested we branch out to the other units a bit more but some days they just need to be in the memory support unit because one lady will be having a cuddle of Paro and the other will be looking over wanting the same."