Both grandpas of Marek and Filip were passionate travellers. Their endless stories from their own travels across Europe provided the initial inspiration for Kaleido’s virtual trips.

You could sense a strange mix of emotions in these stories – the joy and enthusiasm coming from their own memories blended with disappointment that they probably won’t add any more of such powerful experiences to their album.

After initial interviews with different social care organizations, we found that the elderly in care homes can be far more prone to such disappointment, sadness, and apathy, especially those confined to a bed or chair.

We bought the first headset and, in cooperation with Nursing home Chodov, we successfully tested the concept of an activation tool that will allow grandmas and grandpas to go on a trip again, safely and comfortably through virtual reality.

Like the vast majority of us, the March outbreak of the new coronavirus in Europe did not come in handy for Kaleido. We lost access to care facilities, which also had to focus solely on primary care and their clients’ safety.

However, the ban on visits has also multiplied the problem that Kaleido aims to solve. That is why in Spring, together with the nursing homes, we continued to search for all sorts of ways to bring our activation tool into the world – for example through crowdfunding. And ideally free of charge, so that our trips could quickly make those incredibly hard weeks more enjoyable for the elderly.

Crowdfunding did not put us on our feet, but thanks to this effort we gained the attention of the media and also the recognition of the jury of the Hack the Crisis startup competition. We were active in this online incubator throughout Spring and in the end, we won prize money for shared 4th place.

We have decided to use all these funds to implement a free pilot program to get Kaleido into action as soon as possible. In the summer, we developed the first version of our VR application, created our own virtual experiences, and pre-tested them in three homes for the elderly.

Data collected from homes in August showed that we were going in the right direction. And so on the 1st of September, we were delighted to launch our big pilot program – Kaleido got into action in a large scale! We prepared 40 VR headsets that travelled to care facilities, hospitals, and senior clubs throughout the Czech Republic.

Together with activation teams, we collected feedback directly from the facilities, but mainly from the grannies and grandpas themselves. And almost wherever the second wave of the pandemic made it possible, the travellers praised our virtual experiences. By virtue of these valuable insights from practice, we were able to gradually spot and fix all bugs in the application and improve the trips themselves, so that they work perfectly in the future.

We are closing the first calendar year of our existence with great enthusiasm and motivation for further work. The value we saw in Kaleido from the beginning has been definitively proven in the pilot programme. Thanks to thorough user testing, we know exactly what our oldest and their activation teams need. And we want to deliver it to thousands of them as soon as possible.

Kaleido is gradually attracting more and more partnering facilities. And we are already in the process of expanding abroad. Because a forest walk or relaxation on the beach can brighten up the day for an English grandmother, as well as a Czech, Dutch, or German grandfather! Follow our journey, for example on Facebook or Instagram.