Pennsylvania's Bureau of Veterans Homes becomes one of the first state systems to standardize on Healium at every facility.
COLUMBIA, Mo., Aug. 25, 2026 — Residents at all Pennsylvania state veterans homes can now watch their own stress response on a screen — and watch it settle.
A Statewide Deployment Following Competitive Solicitation
The Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Bureau of Veterans Homes, has deployed Healium Clinical across every home in its system, following a competitive state solicitation. Healium Clinical is an FDA-registered Class II 510(k)-exempt biofeedback system. The Healium platform is now in use at homes in Erie, Pittsburgh, Duncansville, Philadelphia, Spring City, and Scranton, PA.
What Changes on a Long-Term Care Floor
Ask anyone who works a long-term care floor what happens mid-afternoon. A resident gets restless. The options have always been thin — a television, a walk down the hallway, a call to nursing. What rarely appears on that list is something the resident can do for themselves.
Healium gives staff something else to reach for. A resident puts on VR goggles and enters a quiet place built for exactly this: a waterfall, an ocean, a slow field of light. A guided breathpacer sets the rhythm, so the resident isn't only watching something calm — they're practicing something. Sessions can run as little as four minutes. No medication. No needle.
"Some of these men and women are in their nineties. They've been told to relax their whole lives, and nobody ever showed them what relaxing actually looks like inside their own bodies. Pennsylvania just gave them that. Healthcare has spent decades asking people how they feel — this is six more facilities where we can finally show them."
— Sarah Hill, CEO and Co-Founder, Healium
How Staff Were Trained — and Why It Works Without Wi-Fi
Healium's customer success team trained staff at each home, site by site, so the technology sits with the people who already know these residents. Content is pre-downloaded to the goggles and runs without an internet connection — a practical requirement in older buildings where wireless coverage is uneven.
Pennsylvania's system serves veterans of every era, many of them frail and most well past the age when travel or new technology comes easily. Healium is not a replacement for the clinical care those residents receive. It's a drugless tool their care teams can reach for first.
What Peer-Reviewed Research Says About Healium
Healium's platform has been evaluated in multiple peer-reviewed journals. A study published in Frontiers in Psychology found that a four-minute Healium experience reduced anxiety, as measured by quantitative EEG. Research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings found significant reductions in anxiety using Healium before cardiac surgery.
Pennsylvania's Perspective
"Introducing virtual reality into our long-term care facilities represents an important step forward in enhancing the quality of life for our residents. These immersive systems give our residents new ways to practice mindful exercises that promote relaxation, reduce stress, and support a peaceful mind. We are proud to bring innovative tools like this into our homes, honoring those who served by helping them find comfort, calm, and connection each day."
— Barry Lowen, Director, Bureau of State Veterans Homes, Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
What This Means for the Nation's 160 State Veterans Homes
Pennsylvania is one of the first state veterans home systems to standardize on Healium across every facility. There are roughly 160 state veterans homes across the country, most of them caring for the same population with the same constraint: more residents than staff, and no objective way to see who is settling and who isn't.
Want to see how Healium fits your veterans' home or VA facility? See Healium for Veterans Affairs or request more information below.
About Healium
Healium is a digital health and mental wellness solution that combines virtual, augmented, or mixed reality with biofeedback and neurofeedback to help patients self-manage stress, anxiety, PTSD, insomnia, and pain as part of a healthy lifestyle. Evaluated in multiple peer-reviewed journals and used by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), federal agencies, behavioral health clinics, and pain clinics nationwide, Healium offers clinicians a non-pharmacological, measurable approach to help patients self-regulate their nervous system in as little as four minutes.
Healium is available through Lovell Government Services, a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB). Learn more at www.tryhealium.com.
Media Contact
Lydia Melton
Chief of Staff, Healium
lydia@tryhealium.com
