Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Robert Signore. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Robert, thanks for joining us today. Over the course of your career, have you seen or experienced your field completely flip-flop or change course on something?

The Senior Living Industry has been greatly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in terms of resident isolation and available labor. The social aspect of Senior Living, which is a major draw for older adults and their families, was disrupted by the pandemic. This highlighted the fact that simply placing elders in one central location was not sufficient to meet their social and cognitive needs. Furthermore, many personal care professionals left their jobs due to the close human contact being deemed too great a personal health risk. They often found better-paying employment at other companies.

Another challenge facing the industry is the aging of the baby boomer generation, which is much larger than the following generations. This will create a continued lack of labor to provide care. Additionally, constructing the appropriate number of housing units for the growing population is not financially feasible due to the significant investment that cannot be recuperated in just one generation.

As a result, much of the care for older adults will need to occur in the communities they already reside in. This includes health care, as well as social and cognitive services. The traditional method of transporting older adults to a local center is very labor and capital-intensive.

To care for older adults now and in the future, it will be necessary to use capital resources and labor efficiently to meet the growing needs of the elder population.

Robert, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

At Thrive Pavilion Inc., our goal is to assist older adults in overcoming the negative health effects of loneliness and isolation through the use of technology that promotes social connection and community. Older adults frequently experience isolation as a result of real-world limitations, such as health concerns, loss of loved ones or friends, lack of transportation, and other environmental factors.

In 2022, I established Thrive Pavilion Inc., a non-profit organization that employs Virtual Reality to address social isolation. Thrive is a metaverse-based community center for older adults, where they can participate in events and activities from the comfort of their own homes. Thrive’s activities are designed to foster physical, mental, and cognitive wellness while also allowing participants to interact with others socially. Virtual Reality offers a unique sense of social connection that is not possible with other technologies, such as videos, webcasts, or video calls. Participants are transported into a three-dimensional environment where they can interact with other participants as avatars.

Thrive’s activities include cognitive events, discussion groups, book clubs, and lectures, as well as weekly physical activities like bocce and cornhole. Fun social events, such as coffee hours, card games, and other puzzle-solving activities that require teamwork, are also available. Thrive also organizes virtual sports leagues for miniature golf and bowling.

Participation in the Thrive Pavilion is free, and we depend on private donations and corporate sponsorship to further our mission.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I’ve come to understand that achieving overnight success requires a significant amount of time and effort. The media often highlights successful business leaders and makes it seem like their triumphs were simple and fast. However, this isn’t typically the case. In reality, many entrepreneurs’ journeys begin in the middle, where they have to take control of a company, rebrand, pivot, or adjust to evolving market conditions. The truth behind countless “overnight” success stories is years of unwavering dedication and perseverance. This experience has instilled in me the importance of persistence and not giving up too easily.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As someone who works frequently with older adults and technology, I often hear the misconception that older adults are not fond of or proficient in using technology. However, this is not entirely true. What we consider to be “high-tech” today are devices like mobile computers that operate through touch-screen interfaces. Unfortunately, interacting with these devices can be unnatural for humans, as we are designed to manipulate objects in our environment using our entire bodies – our eyes, ears, hands, and voice. Older adults may struggle with these devices because they did not have the opportunity to develop the small muscle interactions required for glass interfaces. It may seem that as computer technology advances, it would become even more challenging for older adults to use. However, this is not the case. With current technology, we can create three-dimensional objects in our physical world through augmented reality or place ourselves inside three-dimensional virtual worlds with virtual reality. This allows us to interact with computer interfaces just as we would with objects in the real world. For example, knobs look like tangible knobs that we can turn with our entire hand, and we can grab bats with our hands and throw balls with our arms. We can even talk to someone standing beside us by merely turning our heads. These are natural movements that we learned as children, and it requires us to unlearn how we think about interacting with technology.
In short, it is not that older adults are bad a using 2D technology, it is that 2D technology is not natural for human interaction and we can not assume that 3D technology will be even harder. As a matter of a fact, it’s easier.

Contact Info:

• Website: thrivepavilion.org
• Instagram: instagram.com/thrivepavilion
• Facebook: facebook.com/thrivepavilion
• Other: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thrivepavilion