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Assisted living facilities prepare for Mother’s Day – quarantined-style

By Bruce Hope bruce@opcfla.com
Posted 5/6/20

ORANGE PARK – Local senior living facilities are working to make Mother’s Day as special as possible despite COVID-19 standing in the way.

Mother’s Day is a special time, where we can all …

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Assisted living facilities prepare for Mother’s Day – quarantined-style


Posted

ORANGE PARK – Local senior living facilities are working to make Mother’s Day as special as possible despite COVID-19 standing in the way.

Mother’s Day is a special time, where we can all give thanks to those women who gave us life or reared us. It is a day where even if we don’t take time out on any other, we can let these precious women know how special they are and how much we love and appreciate them.

This year, however, the day will be different and will be another victim of COVID-19. Florida is among the national leaders in the number of elderly residents. Older adults are the most susceptible to the COVID-19 virus, and thus, senior living facilities are very closely monitored, and visits in the traditional sense are now impossible.

That does not mean, though, that the mothers will be without their families on Sunday.

“We are going to have a whole bunch of different things,” said Julie Beckert of Heartland Health Care Center in Orange Park. “Families can choose if they want to do a virtual visit or window visit. We’ve had parades of families with cars come by wishing people happy birthdays so that we could do that for Mother’s Day as well.”

Virtual visits are conducted using either Skype or Facetime. They are pretty simple, according to Beckert. If the family wants to do that, then they simply coordinate with the staff at the facility to have their loved one ready and able to see and converse with them via whichever method was chosen.

“They’re doing quite well [with virtual visits],” Beckert said. “I think that they find it fun and different, and it engages them. They are learning about something new, so that keeps their mind active in doing something different. Very happy faces in that they’re able to see their loved ones.”

If the virtual visit is daunting or simply not the preferred method, some families do window visits. If the resident is physically able, they are brought to the window, and their family will be on the other side of it to see them. At the same time, the physical barrier creates the necessary social distance to keep everyone safe.

“I think that now that the weather is nicer, people are more apt to do window visits,” said Beckert. “It just depends on the mobility of their loved one.”

Barbara Nicholls of Signature healthcare in Orange Park is also working to provide a happy and memorable Mother’s Day for her elderly residents.

Signature Healthcare also engages in virtual and window visits.