ABOUT US
VIRTUAL REALITY COULD HAVE A HUGE IMPACT IN PATIENT’S HEALING.
Existing pain management techniques are often insufficient to ease patients’ mental and physical pain. Medical studies have shown that VR pain distraction is a viable relief strategy and, in many cases, is more effective than opioids. It could also be cost effective for medical facilities as it may speed up patient recovery time and thus reduce the use of resources.
Virtual reality allows patients a sensory escape from pain—they can travel to exciting destinations, have underwater adventures, and even climb mountains—all through the magic of virtual reality!
The Virtual Relief Organization is an organization that brings virtual reality to individuals in medical facilities at no cost. We are sponsored by the Center for Social Change, a non-profit organization that supports visionaries in South Florida who want to change the world.
OUR GOAL
Our goal is to be the premier nonprofit organization bringing VR pain distraction to patients in medical facilities to help improve their mental and physical condition.
HISTORY
The Idea
Erick Lorenzo, founder of VRO, was invited by a longtime friend Gaspar Ferreiro, co-founder of VRO, to attend a gathering at his office at the Center for Social Change (C4SC), an innovative co-working space in Miami, Florida where non- profit organizations work on ideas and projects aimed at improving local communities and the world in general.
The philanthropic nature of the work of this group of individuals intrigued Erick; he had always wanted to do more than just volunteer on weekends but he had never had an opportunity to create his own initiative.
The Beginning
Gaspar Ferreiro is a Virtual Reality Developer who is very involved in the Virtual Reality technology world. Gaspar thought the Center for Social Change was a perfect place to demo Virtual Reality to a diverse group of people and also show his new game. When Erick demoed the game he felt that the experience was so lifelike and made him feel so calm and joyful, that he did not want it to end, a reaction he noticed in many other people. However, it was the reaction of a young woman in a wheelchair that caught Erick’s attention the most.
This young woman was enjoying a VR experience where she found herself standing on rocks that overlooked the ocean; at the very end of her session she said “This is so cool, I can’t get my wheelchair to go here.”
The solution
As he watched and listened to this young woman express her joy at what she was experiencing which without the technology of Virtual Reality she wouldn’t have been able to experience, Erick had his epiphany—he wanted to set up a nonprofit organization that would make available similar VR experiences to those who could benefit the most—individuals who are confined by their mental or physical condition.
Erick set in motion the process for establishing the Virtual Relief Organization. Its primary goal would be to use Virtual Reality technology to comfort patients by allowing them to have a time to forget about their illness, their pain and their fears.
