When visitors can hug again
Published: 4/16/2021 7:41:13 PM
COVID’s lockdowns and health precautions sparked a revolution in social life – especially for nursing home residents.
Teleconferencing by laptop and tablet replaced in-person family visits, which have always been critical to emotional health. After COVID closed nursing homes to the outside world, the closest approximation to getting up close-and-personal with spouses, children and grandchildren was waving and smiling through window glass while chatting by cellphone.
“I felt kind of isolated, but at least we could see them,” said Pauline Bolduc, 93, of Laconia, who has lived at St. Francis Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Laconia for two and a half years. “I missed being able to hug and touch them.”