Location: Fort Myers, FL • Industry: Retirement Community • 2024

Project Completion: Q4 2024

Equipment List:

• Mind Pod by Soul Happy
• Bluefin 32-inch display w/ BrightSign Built-In
• Wallboard CMS software

Partners: Soul Happy, BrightSign, Bluefin and Wallboard

Background: Shell Point is an award-winning retirement community based in Fort Myers, Florida.
The community provides residents a tropical, resort-like lifestyle, while simultaneously offering a full range of medical services to ensure residents’ healthcare needs are met.

Challenge: Administrators and care-givers are entrusted to provide a high level of care to all Shell Point residents. This responsibility often comes with stressors that take a toll on the mental health of these employees. Shell Point’s commitment to provide top-notch care extends beyond the residents themselves. The executive committee places a high priority on the well-being of its administrative personnel and other staff members within the community, offering them the tools and programs to maintain both their physical and emotional health.

” Shell Point’s commitment to positive aging extends far beyond the day-to-day care we provide our residents, as we also care deeply about those who visit and work here at Shell Point. The Mind Pod is a wonderful resource available to everyone who enters, and we’re pleased to see it have such an immediate and positive impact on those who use the Mind Pod to improve their mental well-being.”

– Sarah Owen, Shell Point

Solution: In late-2024, Shell Point worked with an organization called Soul Happy to bring into its main lobby area an innovative new stressreduction tool called the Mind Pod. This therapeutic enclosure creates an engaging, sanctuary-like environment designed to immediately reduce stress levels of those who enter the enclosure. Red Dot Digital Media was brought in to help Shell Point’s IT team customize the “in-pod” experience. Upon entering, individuals are asked to rate their current stress level and then asked to choose from a series of different videos intended to help them reduce anxiety, boost focus and transform their attitude. Videos include deep breathing exercises, introspection techniques, faith-based content and other calming videos, all of which help to center the individual and promote a sense of calm. Individuals are asked again to rate their stress level before exiting the Mind Pod. In total, the full experience lasts approximately five minutes.

“ We’re grateful that Shell Point trusted Red Dot to tailor the Mind Pod experience in a way that delivers a valuable experience for their residents, visitors and employees. Shell Point staff now have daily visibility into how the Mind Pod is being used, with daily email reporting that shows which pieces of video content are impacting users most positively. Furthermore, the templates we developed ensure that future content updates can be made by internal staff, without having to engage outside technical resources.“

– Darryl Kuder, President of Red Dot Digital Media

Shell Point engaged Red Dot to customize the Mind Pod workflow and give them a way to measure and report on the Mind Pod’s positive impact on employees, residents and guests. This included updating the hardware configuration to include a 32-inch Bluefin touchinteractive display with BrightSign Built-In. The convenience of having BrightSign media player capabilities integrated into the display streamlined the hardware layout and ensured interoperability. Red Dot, which does extensive integration within the BrightSign ecosystem, chose to use the Wallboard content management system (CMS) for its versatility, and the ability to bypass programming in HTML to reduce the development timeline and ultimately reduce the cost to Shell Point.

Additionally, Red Dot was able to templatize the layout such that future updates can be made by Shell Point IT personnel without the time and expense of engaging outside consultants. Another reason for engaging Red Dot was to create a reporting system to provide quantitative feedback on the Mind Pod’s positive impact. Shell Point staff now receive daily emails that show how many people use the Mind Pod each day, and which videos were viewed during each visit. And because individuals are asked to measure their stress levels upon entering and leaving the Mind Pod, Shell Point can also see which videos are having the most measurable, positive impact on its residents, staff and visitors.

“ We developed this experiential, innovative, real-time therapeutic environment to de-escalate anxiety, and we’re thrilled to report the immersive sanctuary-like enclosure is already showing positive results in its current location at Shell Point.“

– Cara Hewett and Tracy Zboril Mind Pod Co-Founders

Results: The Mind Pod has been extremely well received not only by staff, but by residents and visitors alike. Beyond the therapeutic benefits, staff have remarked that simply having the Mind Pod centrally located in the lobby is a visual reminder that they have convenient access to a tool that effectively and positively impacts their mental health. Participants rate their stress level upon entering the Mind Pod and again after experiencing videos within the enclosure. Family care-givers measured stress levels decreasing an average of 27%, while staff members experienced a decrease of approximately 20%. This measurable and immediate impact demonstrates that the Mind Pod is improving the mental well-being of those who live and work at Shell Point.