MORGANTOWN — MONA and Jaschar Shakuri-Rad, a Mon Health Medical Center urologist and director of robotic surgery at the hospital, have quickly become an inseparable couple.
Rather than spend money taking MONA out to dinner and a movie, Shakuri-Rad spends most of his time with MONA in a treatment room helping patients relax before he performs an outpatient procedure.
That’s because MONA — named for Mon Health and the Mona Liza painting — is a virtual reality headset patients can wear while undergoing a urological procedure or cancer treatment at the hospital. By using the virtual reality technique and slipping on googles, a patient can take a “mini-vacation” by checking out a Paris art gallery, strolling a beach in Bali or walking down a colorful and rainy Brazilian street.
“MONA can take patients wherever they want,” said Shakuri-Rad, as he tapped instructions on an I-pad for MONA, who instantly transported a visitor to a rainy forest. The visitor, who relaxed almost immediately, was then able to take a 360-degree view of the forest by using a handheld device.
“It takes their mind off things,” said Shakuri-Rad, adding the service is free to patients.
“It’s not a roller coaster,” he said. “It’s all about the patient experience and quality of life.
“We ask patients before we start if they want a shot of virtual reality,” he said. “Most do because it’s a piece of technology they have heard about.”
As the patient is nearing the end of his or her treatment, MONA will gently bring the real world back. The patient will be shown familiar sights such as High Street, the hospital, the treatment room and then Shakuri-Rad himself.
He got the backing of the hospital for MONA by an accidental encounter. He said Mon Health System President and CEO David Goldberg saw him in the hallway with his headset and asked what they were.
“I explained and he said, ‘we have to get some.’ ” Shakuri-Rad said Mon Health now has two head sets and has been offering MONA since December.
Shakuri-Rad, who has been interested in technology since his high school days in Parkersburg, said using virtual reality distracts the patients and makes them less dependent on painkillers, like opioids.
“Being aware of the opioid epidemic, I like to focus on reducing the amount of opioids I prescribe,” Shakuri-Rad said.
“With the opioid crisis taking place in the state, we’re seeing the benefit of this kind of technology,” he added.
To make MONA a reality, Mon Health teamed up with California-based The Healing Museum to develop a virtual reality arts platform to help patients dealing with pain management, tension and anxiety. Morgantown High School alumnus Benjamin Gleitzman, a graduate of MIT, helped develop the software for Mon Health.
Shakuri-Rad said in the past, he used visual distractions, such as games or movies, to help his patients. He found, however, when a patient was involved in a game,
or even a movie, they tended to move. Also, patients would sometimes become nauseated by the combination of video games and painkillers. Because MONA uses virtual reality and the patient
is still, this is not an issue.
“We’re barely touching the surface of its potential,” he said.
Right now MONA is available only at Mon Health Medical Center. Shakuri-Rad said dialysis patients began using the headset and eventually will expand the use of the technology to Mon Health hospitals in Kingwood and Weston.
By Suzanne Elliott
Selliott@DominionPost.com
Twitter @DominionPostWV
