Insight Brings VR Holiday Experience to Children at Tampa General Hospital
December 21 2018 - 8:30AM
For a second straight year, Insight Enterprises (NASDAQ:NSIT)
teammates from the company’s Digital Innovation solution area
formerly known as Cardinal Solutions, brought a virtual reality
(VR) holiday gaming experience to pediatric patients at Tampa
General Hospital (TGH) on Dec. 12.
The Insight team created a virtual getaway for patients
undergoing treatment at the TGH Children’s Medical Center who are
unable to celebrate the holidays at home this year. The children
and their families donned Oculus Rift, Oculus Go and mobile VR
headsets provided by Insight volunteers to immerse themselves in
the VR game, “Holiday Madness,” and a magical sleigh ride with
Santa to gather presents at the North Pole.
Matt Fedorovich, Insight’s national lead for immersive
technology, created the VR experience and last year’s game that saw
children fending off flying presents from magical cannons. This was
a change in gears for the Insight Digital Innovation team, which
normally develops personalized apps, including extended-reality
experiences, to enhance how businesses connect with consumers and
how workers collaborate.
“The holiday idea arose when I saw an article about how VR was
helping enable therapy in a hospital setting, and I thought we
could apply what we do in a way that brings smiles to children who
could use a little distraction during the holidays,” said
Fedorovich. “This also was a natural opportunity to tie into
Insight’s charitable giving mission to enrich children’s lives
through a shared love for technology.”
Wileska Rivera, a former TGH employee and a mother of one of the
patients, said the VR experience helped children “keep their
spirits up.”
“I never imagined being on this side of patient care. Days like
today help give my daughter a different perspective on her current
health challenges as she is able to see that other children are
also facing a difficult time in their life. I am extremely thankful
for this support to help get our family through a tough time,
especially during the holidays,” said Rivera.
Insight’s Tampa teammates also donated toys to the hospital’s
annual Angel Tree drive, with donations going to the Foster Angels
of Hillsborough County.
Fedorovich said the vast imagination of children and their knack
for connecting with new technology made the 360-degree, full-body
movement VR experience even more inspiring.
“The kids didn’t want to take the headsets off, and I didn’t
realize how much of an impact it would have on the parents too.
Some of these kids have had their worlds turned upside down by
illness, and their parents just wanted to see them happier. I had a
parent come up to me and say they hadn’t seen their son move like
that in months. This really resonated with me as a new parent, and
I knew we were doing something right by bringing this technology to
the hospital,” he said.
Steve Brown, a digital solutions practice manager at Insight,
added: “Giving children access to the most cutting-edge technology
can spark their sense of what’s possible and inspire them to
consider tech-related careers. It makes us feel good when we see
light bulbs go off when we bring a little piece of that to
them.”
About InsightToday, every business is a
technology business. Insight Enterprises Inc. empowers
organizations of all sizes with Insight Intelligent Technology
Solutions™ and services to maximize the business value of IT. As a
Fortune 500-ranked global provider of Digital Innovation, Cloud +
Data Center Transformation, Connected Workforce, and Supply Chain
Optimization solutions and services, we help clients successfully
manage their IT today while transforming for tomorrow. From IT
strategy and design to implementation and management, our 6,600+
employees help clients innovate and optimize their operations to
run business smarter. Discover more at www.insight.com. NSIT-M
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CONTACTS: |
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Insight
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TEL. (480)
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EMAIL: SCOTT.WALTERS@INSIGHT.COM |
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ARIEL
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Sloane &
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TEL. (212)
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EMAIL: AKOUVARAS@SLOANEPR.COM |
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