(Susan Schwartz/ The Montreal Gazette) — As images of green leaves and red ladybugs projected from above danced on a tabletop at the Maimonides Geriatric Centre on Wednesday and participants reached out to swipe at them, resident Harry Mintz had a good line.
“One lady that doesn’t bug me too much,” he said. It earned him a laugh.
A therapeutic play system acquired by the Côte-St-Luc long-term care centre was being demonstrated — the Tovertafel. It’s Dutch for magic table. A box mounted on the ceiling or a tall, movable support holds a projector, computer hardware and infrared sensors that capture even the smallest hand movements of players. The sensors project interactive games and colourful images onto a table or the floor to encourage play — leaves that people swipe, for instance, or projections of fish they try to catch. (…)