Harbison’s senior Motiview cycling program is bringing home the ‘gold’ – they want other providers to get on the podium too

It may well be that Cadel Evans’ 2011 Tour de France win may just have a challenger of clout for those who have been told, or told themselves, that they’re out of the race. Not-for-profit Harbison, a provider in the Southern Highlands of NSW, runs a cycling program for its residents called Motiview. While serving 240 seniors, at least 130 of whom are living with dementia, in 2024 residents rode 47,033km in 24 days in their annual competition. For the seniors that have participated in the program, the benefits hit every metric imaginable. Physical and psychosocial markers have positively risen as steep as any Alp peak in the Tour. With academic-led research and anecdotal evidence as packed as any peloton, Harbison is in the saddle to bring the cost-effective, results-driven program to as many providers and seniors as possible.

Quality over rote

Cochran, as his executive and front-line staff will attest, is consistently inspired to deliver quality over quantity of care, and for that he knew that creativity, innovation and a little pinch of risk would be needed.

And so going out on a limb, he found himself quite unexpectedly getting into the saddle. He knew he needed a program that would cut through the red tape to a rights-based offering, all the while being cost-effective, and quite simply, not patronising. As any provider executive and lifestyle coordinator will confirm, seniors are older, not obtuse. They are profoundly capable, and understandably so, of resisting programs that are deemed as ‘good for them’. The litmus test follows, most adults outside of residential care, when told something is ‘good for them’ will inexorably do the opposite.

What Cochran found on his last week on a searching trip in Denmark, beside a pot-plant in a hotel lobby, has completely changed life and lifestyle at Harbison.

On a tiny laptop what he saw was a group of seniors on stationary bikes in front of a TV screen, with beautiful footage going about the pace of an average cyclist, and Cochran said, “stop the video, how do I get this?”

He is magnanimous in saying, “I had no idea what I was doing, it was a hunch.” But all sectors need someone to step out and take the risk, and because Cochran did it, he’s been able to be the first to definitely prove just how impactful the Motiview cycling program can be.

“While it was a hunch, even in just the video of the seniors participating, with the look on people’s faces, I knew this was a thing.”

He had a gut feeling that quality was there and having been awarded Operator of the Year, Facility of the Year, and Innovation of the Year (Dementia Empowerment) at the 2025 Eldercare Innovation Awards that quality has been seen sector wide. As well, the potential for results and most importantly, fun.

Fun

Business and clinical strategy should never underestimate the power of fun. Cyndi Lauper says girls just want to have fun, well so do seniors, and front-line staff and aged care executives. As a matter of fact, rather everyone wants to have fun. So why not put fun at the centre of provider aged care services strategy? And one outcome is absolute, data-backed and anecdotally-chockers full of proof, the Motiview program at Harbison is very, very fun.

Cochran knew that in order to give the Motiview cycling program a chance he could not come in with executive powers decreeing to say, ‘this is good for you’.

Cochran says once it was in the lifestyle team’s hands, “the lifestyle guys got it straight away. They just got it and ran with it and they persuaded one of our residents to give it a whirl.”

The flexibility and inclusivity of the program is almost unbelievably showcased in who was the first resident to put up their hand and take to the pedals.

“One of our residents had very advanced Parkinson’s, she was the first person to put up her hand to give it a go. Everyone was nervous about this, and we put so much safety in but now we laugh because of how fantastic she and others have been.”

Cochran continues, “they set up the bike in front of a small TV screen that didn’t do justice to the high-definition videos but she didn’t care, and the Motiview folks had flown someone out to the Southern Highlands to film the local area. This was an important offering of the program as familiar sites help trigger memories for people with dementia.”

“The guy only made three films but they were beautiful, and our resident sat in the adaptive therapy bike, she was pedaling with her hands because she couldn’t use her legs, and when the first video that came on, the first thing she saw was her former front door.”

“It was an astonishing and moving moment. She was in tears, she hadn’t seen her front-door since moving into Harrison.”

He remembers, “it was this emotional release, it very quickly became not about the exercise. The physical exercise quickly disappeared into the background, and she and others since forget they’re even exercising.”

“We have this hilarious problem, since the first resident, the uptake in participation has exploded, we’re often amazed at how often the residents use the bikes, and how much exercise they’re getting. And now families complain they have to buy smaller pants all the time because their loved-ones are getting in such good shape.”

Cochran has another problem, “40 bikes is not enough. I still don’t have enough bikes for demand. Even when the pandemic came along, we realised we were on to a great thing because we could split up the bikes and have them in compartments during the pandemic.”

“We sailed through the pandemic, the residents could continue to be healthy and morale was maintained, people still had things to do, without too much fuss whatsoever.”

Extensive benefits

Australian studies have found that residents in residential aged care are inactive 85% of the time, this comes with poorer psychological and physical health outcomes, falling wellbeing and premature mortality.

Now, one of Cochran’s problems is fielding those complaints about buying smaller sports shorts because a resident has lost weight, is more active, is able to and wants to walk around the facility more.

A key part of the activity of the Motiview program is an annual virtual cycling race called Road Worlds for Seniors. Forget the Tour de France, with over 7,000 seniors participating across 13 countries, Cochran laughs as he shares a fact, it is probably the largest annual international sporting event in the world. Participating seniors would be quick to chuckle that the media fan-fare is just around the corner.

Harbison first introduced Motiview in Australia in 2018. In the first annual event, the residents called themselves “the Slow Speed Demons”, and they completed 261km over 26 days. A mere six years later, Harbison resident participants promptly completed 47,033km in 24 days and won Crew of the Year for the second time.

Cochran and front-line staff are encouraged, it is the most popular program at the facility, over 50% of residents use it regularly all year round.

Cochran went looking for a “simple, cheap and scalable” program, to secure results of powerfully dropping feelings of boredom, helplessness and loneliness, and boosting all health metrics to boot. And he found it.

The proof is in the pedal. Harbison set out to prove it could work, they have, and then some. With residents willing to talk about Motiview at the drop of a hat and a peer-reviewed published research paper on the health benefits, Harbison are on a mission to get the message out. The motiview program is a phenomenally performing program and strategy for providers, seniors and front-line staff.

Uptake has gone from strength to strength: “This year we had two residents who did more than 4,000km each. We had a 104-year-old who did more than 2,000km.”

Aged care done differently

The Motiview program uses stationary exercise bikes, and a video library to create a semi-immersive experience that stimulates physical, social and cognitive activity.

Residents at Harbison regularly enjoy exploring places around the world just as much as cycling through their cherished local streets. Cochran shares that because the program is so adaptive, they’ve been able to augment it for their Aussie residents.

With multiple bikes following along to one screen and scenery, it’s as social as it is physical. The residents have been thrilled to cycle around the Eiffel tower, and past their local shops. Those that have mobility issues have no barriers to joining, with adaptive bikes anyone can use.

Far from the ‘good for you’ gym environment some providers have tried to make work, it’s predominantly a social activity without needing any additional staff. Even more so, Cochran shares, some residents have thrived in being able to realise independence through supervising their own sessions, which has led to an invaluable sense of empowerment.

And most importantly Cochran affirms, they’ve gamified it.

Each resident has a profile, with each km tracked on the bikes. He and front-line staff are regularly brought to laughter-tears at the cheeky, competitive and serious competition brewing between residents. It is not unregular to see a resident who’s gained back mobility to be using that to walk around furtively, and perhaps with a wink to a front-line staff that sees, checking on the scores of competitive rivals at the leaderboard.

Spunk and competitive spirit does not diminish with age. Cochran has seen how meaningful it has been for residents to have the opportunity to be social, exercise, race and importantly push themselves because they care, because they have something on the line. The joy from this far outstrips being quantified in any study.

From something that started out as simple pragmatics of bike, video and some exercise has morphed into something so much greater, “a man at 99 came to us, he was anti-social and withdrawn, he didn’t want to leave his room.”

“He only wanted to sort out his affairs, and leave them tidy for his family, and he expected to die soon. We couldn’t get him to do anything because he thought his time was up. We finally managed to entice him to give Motiview a go by putting a bulk like in his room so that he could use it in private”, Cochran shares.

“Five years later he was 104, he was a daily user of the bike. He was the life of the party. He was so socially connected. He was thriving. He regained the ability to walk, he would do 20 minutes in the morning on the bike and 20 minutes at night.”

“He was the resident who did 2,000km in the race. He was so happy after the race event. He was joyous and that night he passed away peacefully in his sleep.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the facility as family members conveyed, “just how grateful they were for the five years, it turned a withdrawn crisis into a beautiful meaningful time for their beloved dad.”

Cochran shares, “Motiview is not the bee-all and end-all, it’s the platform that allows a very different experience of aged care to be had not just from the residents point of view but from the staff’s point of view and the families.”

Research

Harbison has also leaned into academic quality study as an important step to consolidate just how impactful the Motiview program is. They teamed up with Dr Ruth Brookman of Western Sydney University, to study the annual Road Worlds for Seniors.

The study found the program, of one intervention, seemingly of only physical exercise, had striated into multiple physical, psychosocial and social benefits of wellbeing.

“We had a resident, who had a very serious fall, and he was crook from it. But would that stop him from getting on the bike? No. He had a big smile on his face and he completed the race, he put in a solo performance of 1,000km in four weeks.”

In the study higher quality of life, through being more physically active was evidenced, but what was particularly interesting was how quickly the shifts in quality of life came about. In a matter of weeks of using Motiview, it found, benefits were already being quantifiably tracked.

The Brookman research firmly established that Motiview at Harbison improved mobility, independence and lowered depression for residents.

Even more surprising Cochran shares, when social networks were measured, the study found that not only for residents, but staff and family were social networks increased. The benefits had leaped from residents to front-line staff and to the wider community.

“For our resident, the impact of the program and his enthusiasm for it reeled in his kids, they came down for the medal ceremony. It was a fantastic time with loud music led by the residents, maybe even some rap music, our resident with the medal around his neck and his kids and everyone just beaming with happiness.”

Cochran and staff are immensely encouraged by the results, with front-line staff finding the research affirming and motivational. Another surprising and welcomed result is that since the Motiview program was introduced, staff turnover has plummeted from 30 per cent to 15 per cent. Cochran shares that the Motiview program has played a key role in recruiting and retraining younger staff, ensuring a further vibrancy of intergenerational teams and facility.

Cost effective

The program could deliver the world but was it financially viable?. Cochran knew this was a non-negotiable offering to prove.

Looking at the benefit of the program in exercise, compared to the program’s costs, a positive financial picture consolidated. With a price tag of less than $4000 a year on an annual Motiview subscription, Harbison’s economic consultants confirmed it was a return on investment.

With a model of only modest improvements, Cochran notes if Motiview improves the health-related quality of life for a resident by 10%, reducing medication needs, co-morbidity costs, then the program’s value sits at positive value for every dollar spent on it. But with cases they have seen with residents, value-figures can rise even higher at 12.5% to 15% quality of life improvement.

Additionally, adaptability and affordability is part of the program with the equipment. Not all providers may need the more expensive adaptive bikes, Harbison has also tested $25 peddle sets.

These conservative value points are calculated without taking into consideration avoidance of falls and related cost. The value further elevates when considering avoidance of costs such as emergency presentations to hospital from chronic diseases. As well, the benefits of holistically improving social isolation and supporting seniors to be thriving members of an active community.

Data and story backed

The numbers are in. The program has been profoundly worthwhile strategically. Cochran is sincerely passionate and corporately grounded, steeped in the figures as much as the stories, “I’ll stand up and talk about this in front of every audience I can get.”

As the representative for Motiview in Australia and now Japan, Cochran sees the movement building as five other providers in Australia have brought in the Motiview program. He looks to many more adopting the program and from that, countless lives, seniors, staff and loved ones cycling a good race.

“All of us want a good end but more importantly, we want a good life in the precious time we have. How as providers can we deliver the best life? Let’s focus on the upside risks.”

And getting in the saddle of the Motiview program may just be one of the best risks yet.

“One of our residents had atypical Parkinson’s, no medication worked to treat the tremors. It was really tough. He was in bad shape but one day he decided he wanted to try Motiview. Because the bikes were adapted, he was able to get going.”

“He loved it. He became a regular user of it. Months later a phone call came into the office from his brother out of the blue, they’d been estranged for decades. The brother had got a call from the resident’s GP.. I thought, ‘Oh dear, what have we as a provider done now?’.

“I asked what the problem was, and he said there’s no problem, the GP told him his brother had lost his tremors, and didn’t know what Harbison was up to, and to go check it out because it was working. So his brother came into the facility to talk to me, I showed him Motiview and that we weren’t giving his brother any new medication. And then they actually spoke to each other and couldn’t remember why they were estranged and reconciled.”

“They remembered as boys they’d loved cycling, and the next thing we know, the brother’s coming in not only to visit our resident but to volunteer to help with the Motiview program.”

Cochran recognises, risks of new programs like Motiview need buy-in but the rewards can oftentimes be so unexpected you can never even start to imagine them.