By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The coronavirus pandemic has shrunk the worlds of many senior citizens and separated them from their families. Because COVID-19 is particularly harsh for seniors, long-term care facilities in Ohio no longer allow families or friends to visit residents.
That means some creative communication is taking place, according to Chris Stearns, community relations director at Wood Haven Health Care.
In order to have some form of “face time” with family members, some visitors hold up signs outside the windows to remind their elders of their love. Some touch hands through windows. And some stand outside and talk on their cell phones to their family members on the inside.
“I think everybody is struggling,” Stearns said. “Everybody wants to see them in person and hug them. It’s definitely hard on everybody.”
Though family and friends aren’t allowed to enter the facility themselves, they are permitted to send in supplies – like favorite snack foods or soda pops. When one resident’s radio went on the fritz, her family sent a new one. Other families have dropped off new clothes.
All the items from the outside are fully sanitized and have to sit for 24 hours before they are delivered to the residents, Stearns said.
For now, communication over phone lines or through windows will have to do. For some residents whose rooms face the interior courtyard of Wood Haven, that means masking up and taking a short field trip to the front lobby.
For a generation who grew up with party phone lines, the lack of privacy doesn’t seem to bother them.
“They talk with someone through the windows,” Stearns said.
Some of the more tech-savvy residents use laptops to stay in touch with family and friends.
“We do occasionally see some Skype and Zoom” – especially for Easter and Mother’s Day gatherings, she said.
“A few of our residents do have Facebook,” so they communicate through messages that way.
“I think the worst is the fear of the unknown – of when we’re going to be allowed to let visitors in,” Stearns said.
In the meantime, residents of local nursing homes are being showered by artwork from young strangers in the community. The Bowling Green Parks and Recreation Department has been enlisting children to participate in a “Share Your Sunshine Art Show.” Each week young artists are asked to create artwork to be shared with residents of long-term care facilities in Bowling Green.
