Tasmanian aged care residents are boarding a train to destinations around the world, from the English countryside to Japan, without having to leave the comfort of their facility.
The custom-built train carriage is being used in a University of Tasmania research project examining whether virtual train journeys can improve residents’ wellbeing.
Not-for-profit provider OneCare has teamed up with Australian company Olive Express and the university research team to bring the carriage to its homes.
The trailer is fitted out as an old-style train carriage and seats up to eight people, with space to accommodate wheelchairs and day beds. Screens fitted as windows show train journeys filmed in the UK, Europe, China, Japan and the US.
OneCare chief operations officer Natalie Neilson said residents voted on their destinations.
“We’re going all out, with passports, boarding passes, maps, costumes and polaroids to give residents a truly immersive experience,” she said.
Olive Express has also filmed a journey aboard Tasmania’s West Coast Wilderness Railway. Neilson said it would be of particular interest when the carriage visits OneCare’s Umina Park home in Burnie, where some residents grew up on the West Coast.
For 91-year-old resident Laurie Bennett, the experience has brought back memories of her father’s career on the railways.
He worked in the industry for more than 60 years and drove the Tasman Limited.
“Brings back a lot of memories,” Bennett said.
“Makes me feel like a child again, you know?”
University of Tasmania researcher Associate Professor Jade Cartwright said her team would measure residents’ mood, loneliness and communication before and after the journeys.
Researchers would also join residents on board.
“Early research suggests that Olive Express has the potential to enhance residents’ wellbeing and stimulate meaningful conversation,” she said.
Olive Express founding director Che Turner said the idea came from his grandmother Olive’s love of travel.
He said the carriage had also affected residents’ eating habits, with some who struggled to finish meals eating more when the space was set up as a dining car.
“When the carriage is set up as a dining car, residents linger over their meal and eat more, because they’re engaged by the journey and conversation,” Turner said.
The carriage will spend about six weeks at each of OneCare’s five facilities. “Journeys” are open to residents, retirement village residents, home care clients and their guests.
