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Can you stand segregation? These researchers are using virtual reality to let hospital staff see through their patients’ eyes

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HAMILTON—Think virtual reality and you might picture a fantasy world to be explored and enjoyed. But researchers and staff at a Hamilton hospital are using the technology to better understand what it feels like to be in a seclusion room, the health-care equivalent of a jail segregation cell.

“We wanted to see what it was like to be on the other side of the door,” said Gary Chaimowitz, head of the forensic psychiatry program at St. Joseph’s Healthcare and a professor at McMaster University. “I think many of us can imagine, or recall times when you’ve been in places by yourself, when you didn’t want to be by yourself, left alone, but this puts you, as a staff person, in our rooms.”

A virtual reality prison solitary confinement room in a training scenario created by Ottawa-based company SimWave for the forensic psychiatry program at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton.
A virtual reality prison solitary confinement room in a training scenario created by Ottawa-based company SimWave for the forensic psychiatry program at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton.  (Courtesy of SimWave)

Using a VR headset and hand controllers, staff are transported into a room modelled after real seclusion rooms at the hospital, and another set in a jail cell.

SimWave, an Ottawa-based company, used photographs to recreate the experience.

In two of three VR training modules being used at the program, you try to get the attention of virtual staff on the other side of the door. The seclusion room has no bathroom, and your bladder is full. You can ask for help, pace the room and knock or even pound on the door.

Your call for help returns one of 10 programmed responses, ranging from, a polite, “Yes, we’ll get you something,” to “Hold on a sec, we’re a little bit busy right now,” to a little more pointed response, Chaimowitz said.

“The tone, if you’re on the receiving end of that, obviously it makes a hell of a big difference,” he said.

Sometimes, there is no response, or the “patient” hears laughter. In another scenario, you actually get to use the bathroom.

“We’re looking at how long you can be in there before you get anxious,” Chaimowitz said, “and what it’s like to have a different staff response, the idea being that we are going to try to sensitize staff to what it’s like to be on the inside, which might change the way they interact with patients, both in terms of their tone and also a recognition of what it’s like to be there.”

Some staff have had to remove the headset after a while because they feel so enclosed by being in the room, Chaimowitz said, adding no one has found the experience to feel fake. “People have acknowledged that this is very different than being on the other side of the door,” he said.

The artists and developers at SimWave paid close attention to the finest of details. “If you press your virtual nose against the walls you can really see the details,” said Matt Thomas, SimWave’s head of business development.

Many of the hospital’s patients come from jails and return after treatment. Chaimowitz said the hospital hopes to share this training experience with provincial and federal corrections systems, where the use of segregation is under intense scrutiny.

In federal and provincial jails, inmates are being held in segregation for great lengths of time, and often exceeding 15 consecutive days, a point beyond which the United Nations has called to be banned because of the proven psychological harm it can cause.

This fall, as part of a human rights case settlement, Ontario’s Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services released two months’ worth of data on inmates either awaiting trial or serving short sentences who had spent time in segregation.

Of 3,998 placements in segregation, 778 were for periods longer than 15 consecutive days, the data revealed.

Gary Chaimowitz, second from right, is the head of the forensic psychiatry program, at St. Joseph's Healthcare in Hamilton. He and his team, including Brandon Sunstrum, left, Sebastien Prat and Heather Dunlop-Witt, are using virtual reality scenarios to help staff understand what it feels like to be in a seclusion room, the hospital equivalent of a jail segregation cell.
Gary Chaimowitz, second from right, is the head of the forensic psychiatry program, at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Hamilton. He and his team, including Brandon Sunstrum, left, Sebastien Prat and Heather Dunlop-Witt, are using virtual reality scenarios to help staff understand what it feels like to be in a seclusion room, the hospital equivalent of a jail segregation cell.  (Jim Rankin/Toronto Star)

Half of the inmates had mental health alerts on their files and more than a third had a suicide alert.

“The correctional system is behind,” says Chaimowitz, who gave expert testimony at the coroner’s inquest into the 2007 death of Ashley Smith, who spent more than three years in segregation.

He recalls his first visit, decades ago, to a Hamilton jail. “I could hear people screaming and recognized there were mentally unwell people.”

“I don’t think anybody there is being cruel,” he said. “But it is frightening, and it is one of those sort of things that I can’t believe, in our cities, that we house people like this.”

The VR training can’t replicate everything in a seclusion or segregation setting, such as the degree of noise, the clanging and the smells, but the idea is that “if we can walk in someone’s shoes, even if it’s the way you deal with people, that it will be a little bit more humane,” he said.

Another training module simulates a search for contraband in a psychiatry patient room complete with a full bathroom. A more complex simulation still in the works involves an educational night-shift scenario that begins with hearing a noise and escalates into a hostage-taking situation.

The hospital’s forensic psychiatry unit has 114 beds and will be adding four correctional beds, as part of a pilot project with the provincial ministry that overseas corrections. Those beds should cut down visits by mentally ill inmates to hospital emergency rooms, where staff are “uncomfortable” with corrections patients who are shackled and handcuffed, Chaimowitz said.

“We’ll be in a better position to treat them and get their mental illness under control,” Chaimowitz said. “The idea is to bring them in here and get them well enough” to return to the general jail population, he says. “I think it the potential for making a big difference is very, very high.”

As for more the potential for virtual reality, Chaimowitz and his team would like to see patients given the opportunity to use the technology to escape their rooms and units and explore.

“They are basically stuck in their unit and the perimeter around St. Joe’s and Hamilton. So, they can’t do a lot,” said psychiatrist Sébastien Prat. “We want to develop that kind of project, in order to make them able to travel to a beach or somewhere they want to go, so they can enjoy something.”

Jim Rankin is a reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @Jleerankin

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Anglais

Nostalgia and much more with Starburst XXXtreme

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Get a taste of adventure with Starburst XXXtreme based on the legendary NetEnt Game. The nostalgic themes are sure to capture fans of the classic version as they get treated to higher intensity, better visuals, and features. The most significant element of the game is its volatility. Patience will not be an essential virtue considering the insane gameplay, and there is a lot of win potential involved. It retains the original makeup of the previous game while adding a healthy dose of adrenaline. 

Starburst Visuals and Symbols

The game is definitely more conspicuous than before. The setting happens over a 5-reel, 3-row game grid with nine fixed win lines, which function if a succession from the left to the right reel is present. Only those players that that attain the highest win per bet line are paid. From a visual standpoint, the Starburst XXXtreme slots illustrates lightning effects behind the reels, which is not surprising as it is inherited from the original version. Available themes include Classic, Jewels, and Space. The game is also available in both desktop and mobile versions, which is advantageous for players considering the global pandemic. According to Techguide, American gamers are increasingly having more engaging gaming experiences to socialize to fill the gap of in-person interaction. Starburst XXXtreme allows them to fill the social void at a time when there is so much time to be had indoors. 

Starburst XXXTreme Features

Players get to alternate on three features which are Starburst Wilds, XXXtreme Spins, and Random Wilds. The first appears on reels 2,3, or 4. When these land, they expand to cover all positions while also calculating the wins. They are also locked for a respin. If a new one hits, it also becomes locked while awarding another respin. Starburst XXXtreme offers a choice between two scenarios for a higher stake. In one scenario with a ten times stake, the Starburst Wild is set on random on reels 2,3, or 4, and a multiplier starts the respin. The second scenario, which has a 95 times stake, starts with two guaranteed starburst wilds on reels 2,3, or 4. it also plays out using respin game sequence and features. The game also increases the potential with the Random Wilds feature to add Starburst Wilds to a vacant reel at the end of a spin. Every Starburst Wild gives a random multiplier with potential wins of x2, x3, x5, x10, x25, x50, x100, or even x150.

The new feature is sure to be a big hit with the gaming market as online gambling has shown significant growth during the lockdown. AdAge indicates the current casino customer base is an estimated one in five Americans, so Starburst XXXtreme’s additional features will achieve considerable popularity. 

What We Think About The Game

The gambling market has continued to diversify post-pandemic, so it is one of the most opportune times to release an online casino-based game. Thankfully Starburst XXXtreme features eye-catching visuals, including the jewels and space themes. These attract audience participation and make the gameplay inviting. The game also has a nostalgic edge. The previous NetEnt iteration featured similar visuals and gameplay, so the audience has some familiarity with it. The producers have revamped this version by tweaking the features to improve the volatility and engagement. 

That is characterized by the potential win cap of 200,000 times the bet. Starburst XXXtreme does not just give betting alternatives for players that want to go big. The increase of multipliers also provides a great experience. If the respins in the previous version were great, knowing that multipliers can go hundreds of times overtakes the game to a new level. 

Players should get excited about this offering. All of the features can be triggered within a single spin. Whether one plays the standard game or takes the XXXtreme spin route, it is possible to activate all of the features. Of course, the potential 200,000 times potential is a huge carrot. However, the bet size is probably going to be restricted and vary depending on the casino. It is also worth pointing out that a malfunction during the gameplay will void all of the payouts and progress. Overall, the game itself has been designed to provide a capped win of 200,000 times the original bet. 

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Anglais

‘We’re back’: Montreal festival promoters happy to return but looking to next year

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In downtown Montreal, it’s festival season.

In the city’s entertainment district, a musical act was conducting a sound check on stage Friday evening — the second day of the French-language version of the renowned Just For Laughs comedy festival. Tickets for many of the festival’s free outdoor shows — limited by COVID-19 regulations — were sold out.

Two blocks away, more than 100 people were watching an acoustic performance by the Isaac Neto Trio — part of the last weekend of the Festival International Nuits d’Afrique, a celebration of music from the African continent and the African diaspora.

With COVID-19 restrictions continuing to limit capacity, festival organizers say they’re glad to be back but looking forward to next year when they hope border restrictions and capacity limits won’t affect their plans.

Charles Décarie, Just For Laughs’ CEO and president, said this is a “transition year.”

“Even though we have major constraints from the public health group in Montreal, we’ve managed to design a festival that can navigate through those constraints,” Décarie said.

The French-language Juste pour rire festival began on July 15 and is followed by the English-language festival until July 31.

When planning began in February and March, Décarie said, organizers came up with a variety of scenarios for different crowd sizes, ranging from no spectators to 50 per cent of usual capacity.

“You’ve got to build scenarios,” he said. “You do have to plan a little bit more than usual because you have to have alternatives.”

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Anglais

MELS new major movie studio to be built in Montreal

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MONTREAL — MELS Studios will build a new film studio in Montreal, filling some of the gap in supply to meet the demand of Hollywood productions.

MELS president Martin Carrier said on Friday that MELS 4 studio construction will begin « as soon as possible », either in the fall or winter of next year. The studio could host productions as early as spring 2023.

The total investment for the project is $76 million, with the Quebec government contributing a $25 million loan. The project will create 110 jobs, according to the company.

The TVA Group subsidiary’s project will enable it to stand out « even more » internationally, according to Quebecor president and CEO Pierre Karl Péladeau. In the past, MELS Studios has hosted several major productions, including chapters of the X-Men franchise. The next Transformers movie is shooting this summer in Montreal.

Péladeau insisted that local cultural productions would also benefit from the new facility, adding that the studio ensures foreign revenues and to showcase talent and maintain an industry of Quebec producers.

STUDIO SHORTAGE

The film industry is cramped in Montreal.

According to a report published last May by the Bureau du cinéma et de la télévision du Québec (BCTQ), there is a shortage of nearly 400,000 square feet of studio space.

With the addition of MELS 4, which will be 160,000 square feet, the company is filling part of the gap.

Carrier admitted that he has had to turn down contracts because of the lack of space, representing missed opportunities of « tens of millions of dollars, not only for MELS, but also for the Quebec economy. »

« Montreal’s expertise is in high demand, » said Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante, who was present at the announcement.

She said she received great testimonials from « Netflix, Disney, HBO and company » during an economic mission to Los Angeles in 2019.

« What stands out is that they love Montreal because of its expertise, knowledge and beauty. We need more space, like MELS 4, » she said.

There is still not enough capacity in Quebec, acknowledged Minister of Finance, the Economy and Innovation Eric Girard.

« It is certain that the government is concerned about fairness and balance, so if other requests come in, we will study them with the same seriousness as we have studied this one, » he said.

Grandé Studios is the second-largest player in the industry. Last May, the company said it had expansion plans that should begin in 2022. Investissement Québec and Bell are minority shareholders in the company.

For its part, MELS will have 400,000 square feet of production space once MELS 4 is completed. The company employs 450 people in Quebec and offers a range of services including studio and equipment rentals, image and sound postproduction, visual effects and a virtual production platform.

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