A Voice For Virtual Reality: The Advocate's Role

How can anyone advocate for virtual reality use in healthcare? How can they go about doing it in simple ways?

Heather will cover how the advocate of VR for healthcare can do the following:

• Identify uses for VR in different healthcare settings.
• Find solutions by identifying barriers to use.
• How to increase the accessibility of VR for patient / healthcare use.

PRESENTER BIO
A two-time cancer survivor, Heather Bucalos, RN, knows firsthand of the benefits of VR for oncology patients. She used VR during her month-long hospital stay while being treated for blood cancer in 2020. During her 16-year career as a Registered Nurse, she realized the benefits of mindfulness and relaxation through teaching Lamaze classes.

The discomfort she experienced during cancer treatment led her on a search for better relief of common cancer treatment side effects. The idea to use VR during her own treatment proved beneficial for her as she is now a fierce advocate of VR in healthcare. She has pivoted to consulting in the VR for healthcare space and is excited about the way virtual reality is changing lives one headset at a time.

ACCESSIBILITY
The presentation will be captioned [cc]. The event will have real-time captions displayed in Hubs and YouTube live stream.

Mozilla Hubs holds weekly office hours that can be used to practice and gain an understanding of how to interact in Mozilla Hubs.

LIVESTREAM
We will have video streaming of the event to YouTube via a partnership with the Internet Society Accessibility SIG (a11ySIG).

Link: https://youtu.be/smMwnSyn2i0

If you are unable to join via Hubs, we encourage you to watch the stream on YouTube and ask questions. As we begin meeting regularly each month we will capture feedback on ways we can be more accessible and inclusive in virtual reality and start incorporating them into a set of Best Practices.

SPONSORS
Thanks to Equal Entry for sponsoring.

ACCREDITATION
All A11yVR meetups are pre-approved for IAAP Continuing Accessibility Education Credits (CAEC).

TIMELINE
Please NOTE: When you RSVP, use the "Add to calendar" link to receive a calendar invite transcribed to your time zone.

This timeline is based on the New York ET time zone.

7 - 7:15 PM
Thomas Logan introduction to A11yVR

7:15 - 7:50 PM
Presentation

7:50 - 8 PM
Q&A with attendees