Red Cross Upper Austria (Rotes Kreuz Oberösterreich) is piloting virtual reality journeys for people in hospice care. Under the project Virtuelle Lichtblicke, seriously ill guests put on a VR headset and travel to familiar or new places, even from their sickbed. The pilot is run with the Zentrum für Zivilgesellschaft – Verein füruns and the VR provider VitaBlick, and is being tested in the St. Barbara hospices in Vöcklabruck, Ried im Innkreis and Linz until the end of 2026.
How it works
Trained volunteers accompany each virtual outing and steer it from a tablet. They explain how to use the headsets safely, ease uncertainty, and talk with guests afterwards about what they experienced. Relatives can join guests on these memory journeys. More than 135 destinations are available, according to tips.at in October 2026.
Rollout
By 7 July 2026, the füruns press release reported that training of the first 35 volunteer hospice workers had begun at the Ried site, with training starting at Linz and Vöcklabruck. By late October, local media reported that journeys had taken place: one guest revisited Croatia, where he had spent holidays for years, and two others explored Hallstatt together. The project extends an earlier pilot in disability-care facilities, which used VR headsets from April 2025; results from that earlier phase are separate from the hospice pilot. An expansion of the model to Vienna and Lower Austria is reported as being in planning.
Aims
Project partners describe the goal as giving people in difficult life situations some quality of life, joy and time together, with the person rather than the technology in focus. The Red Cross district managing director said the approach makes journeys possible in mobile and inpatient hospice care where physical limits have been reached.
