The experience of Nature in healthcare environments, supporting the well-being of patients, families and healthcare professionals.

“I find watching these images very beautiful… I really like it, it’s very relaxing. I love the fact that when I look away and then look back at the screen, there is a new and wonderful image… it’s always a surprise. A flower whose fragrance I almost feel I can smell. I always admire it, because it’s something that speaks to you. I get goosebumps just saying it.

“Emilia watches the videos with an impressive hunger for beauty. She is completely captivated by them; for the entire forty-minute session, nothing else exists around her.

“With the experience of the nature videos, we have felt not only memories, but also emotions. Emotions remain until our last breath. Sharing these moments with them also stirs emotions in us as caregivers, emotions we can carry home as an emotional resource to draw on during the more difficult moments of our work.

“We cannot take them to the mountains, but we can bring the mountains into the facility and make them feel at home again. This is the great power we have: we give them their lives back. … It is truly a therapeutic tool, pure therapy for the soul and the heart.

“Emotions and feelings of wonder and beauty. The environment becomes calm and welcoming. The first result was a reduction in what are known as ‘behavioral disturbances’. Some of them also experienced physical improvements. Last but not least, the sense of beauty that these images of nature have brought to the setting. The scenes being projected are truly beautiful, never the same, and they also create, from an aesthetic perspective, a pleasant environment to be in.

“Romeo had not spoken for two years and no longer expressed any emotions. One day, I played the video of the sea and, all of a sudden, we heard him say, ‘Ah, the sea!’ He began telling us how he had asked his wife to marry him, kneeling on the beach. They later got married and returned there for their honeymoon. And he told us about his honeymoon.

“I never would have believed that I would relive that journey, I never could have imagined it.” She relived the honeymoon she had taken with her husband, and that is why she was so moved, because that moment had been so beautiful for her. These testimonies show you what people experience when we use a tool that creates therapeutic beauty.

“Within no more than three minutes, A. slowly stops crying, her face relaxes, and her mood changes completely, from distressed to carefree. The videos truly seem to be an excellent tool for allowing these people to bring their most cherished memories back to the surface.

“In a state of calm, while looking at a forest, a flower, or other images, memories began to resurface. Some people would start singing, or remember a nursery rhyme. A group of relatives had formed who would get the residents to sing after dinner in the evening, in front of the images. A sense of tranquillity had developed that made conversation possible.

“Often, moments of sharing arise around reminiscences, stories of their experiences, or memories. Many, through emotion and sighs, are able to make us understand the inner depth that these videos allow us to reach.

“The storytelling methodology combined with nature video stimulation evokes, activates, and conveys emotions. The conversational dimension intensifies within the group. The dimension of memory is activated by the natural setting, but from there it merely passes through, leading to deeply personal sensations and EMOTIONS.

“Reading the stories we have created again makes us realize the richness of this approach, which does not end with the storytelling itself but continues on the written page. We are collecting them with the aim of celebrating and bringing them to light, preserving them with care.

“Using Alamar Life at our Residence has significantly helped both residents and caregivers experience personal care as a moment of well-being and relaxation. Bathing has thus become an opportunity to reminisce, strengthening trust and compliance with the caregiver. We have also observed a significant reduction in behavioral disturbances and greater engagement and cooperation.

“Many goals were achieved: one resident went from a condition of social isolation and apathy to rediscovering her independence, establishing a weekly routine connected to the activity, increasing her self-esteem, and improving her manual skills over the months.

“The interesting observation — and one that I think would be worth investigating through a more detailed study — is that the videos introduced an important cognitive and attentional stimulus following a period of relaxation, while maintaining a sense of calm and tranquillity throughout the session.

“We had two residents who no longer wanted to eat. They would say, ‘I don’t want to live anymore, so I’m not going to eat.’ We played the video of the fruit, or the one showing the vegetable garden, and in the end they started eating independently, on their own.

“Care staff have also found their work easier. The Relax Channel projections help set the pace of care, which is slow and gentle.
This slowing down can be perceived in so many everyday actions: you see more, you listen more, you feel more… perhaps this is the most significant change that the tool has brought about.

“I believe our televisions should remain switched off, and that there should be thoughtful guidance in offering images designed around these people’s biographies. We let the video play, and it brings us back to a sense of peace as well. Two or three armchairs, the video playing, and you have created an environmental pause that allows a person to sit down, rest, and then carry on. Today, we can choose solutions that have a very low economic impact and a very high impact on quality of life.